How do I enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an account?

Note: MFA is only available for clients using release version 25.x. Clients using release 11.x cannot use MFA.

Multi-factor authentication means that, when a user logs in, in addition to their user name and password, they will be sent a confirmation code which the user must also enter. The authentication code can be sent to either their email or mobile.

If a user uses SSO to log in to LeadDesk, they will not be prompted for multi-factor authentication.

This article describes how to add multi-factor authentication to an existing user. It can also be defined when setting up a new user.

Email or SMS?

When setting up MFA you will need to decide whether the preferred authentication method is using email or SMS. While this can be set for each user separately, it is better to take a consistent approach where possible. That said, you may prefer different methods for different roles, for example Admins using email authentication and agents using SMS.

When making the decision, consider:

• Do your users have access? If you want to enable MFA for agents they will need to be set with either an email address or a mobile number in their LeadDesk account information (see below), and they will need to be able to access that email address or mobile when they log in.
• Do multiple users share an email address? The authentication code should only be sent to one user. If user information for multiple agents contains the email address "customer.service@example.com", you won't be able to use email MFA.

• Do you use the information in message templates? If you use message templates that include tags for sender information, keep in mind that these tags use the same user fields as the MFA setup. 

  • The message template tag {agent.workphone} looks at the same field SMS MFA uses.
  • The tag {agent.email} uses the same field as email MFA does. 

  So if you use an agent's personal mobile number for MFA, be careful that you don't use it as the SMS sender for a message template!

Setting up MFA for a user

In your Admin account:

1. Go to the Users page.
2. Go to the User list subpage.
3. If necessary, search for the account you wish to update.
4. Click the Name for the user to edit their details.
5. Click the MFA drop-down list and select either Email or SMS.

1. In the Contact information section, you will also need to complete the Email field or the Work phone field depending on the MFA method selected. 

1. Click the Save button when done.

Logging in using MFA

For information about how to log in once MFA is set up on your account see Logging in with multi-factor authentication (MFA).