Hi all,
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is now available in Beta for Benchling tenants.
What is MFA?
When MFA is enabled, users who log in with a username and password will also enter a time-based code from an authenticator app on their phone. The code refreshes every 30 seconds, making it much harder for anyone to gain unauthorized access even if a password is leaked or compromised.
How it works
Tenant admins can configure MFA in the Tenant Admin Console. MFA is disabled by default. You can set MFA to enabled (optional: users choose whether to enroll) or required for username & password accounts (all local-password users must enroll) or all users. Users set up MFA on their next login by scanning a QR code with their authenticator app of choice.
Admins can set a custom message that users see when they're prompted to enroll, so you can include your own instructions or context for your organization.
If a user loses access to their authenticator app, admins can reset that user's MFA credentials from the Tenant Admin Console so they can re-enroll. If MFA is configured as optional, users can also disable and re-enable MFA for themselves at any time.
Beta availability
MFA Beta is currently opt-in on dev and test tenants. Starting next week, it will be available on all dev and test tenants as part of open Beta.
If you'd like to try it out before then, reach out to your CSM or to me directly and we can enable it on your tenant.
Why enable MFA?
We care deeply about the security of your Benchling data. MFA only takes a few minutes to set up and significantly increases the security of your account. If your organization handles sensitive or regulated data, MFA is a strong addition to your security posture.
We welcome any feedback as you start using this. Let us know how it goes in the comments below.