{"id":138554,"date":"2026-08-13T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/138554\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:34:10","slug":"microsoft-wants-you-to-ditch-sms-passwords-as-ai-makes-phishing-harder-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/138554\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft wants you to ditch SMS passwords as AI makes phishing harder to stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft<\/a> just sent a warning to IT admins, and it\u2019s a big one. The company wants everyone to stop using SMS and voice-based authentication, and it\u2019s citing AI-powered phishing<\/a> as the main reason.<\/p>\n

Why is Microsoft killing SMS authentication?<\/p>\n

In an email spotted by Windows Latest<\/a>, Microsoft explained that the AI<\/a> era calls for stronger, phishing-resistant authentication. Basically, AI has made it far easier for attackers, even the less skilled ones, to manipulate SMS and voice channels. SIM swapping has also become easier with AI, allowing bad actors to move your number to a SIM card they control without much effort.<\/p>\n

\"Microsoft<\/p>\n

\t\tWindows Latest<\/p>\n

Microsoft says it\u2019s seeing a sharp rise in AI-driven attacks to steal passwords and MFA codes, and these attacks have a noticeably higher success rate than older, pre-AI phishing attempts. So no, AI isn\u2019t hacking your SIM card directly, but it is making it a lot easier to trick people into handing over their credentials willingly.<\/p>\n

When is this happening?<\/p>\n

Microsoft has laid out a two-step timeline. Starting September 1, Entra users using SMS or voice authentication will be asked to set up a passkey<\/a> during sign-in. If you\u2019re not ready for that switch, you\u2019ll need to move away from SMS or voice authentication before the rollout begins.<\/p>\n

\"Microsoft<\/p>\n

\t\tRachit Agarwal \/ Digital Trends<\/p>\n

Then, on February 1, 2027, Microsoft will fully retire SMS and voice authentication for Entra ID, and passkeys will become mandatory. There\u2019s no opt-out either, so every single tenant will be affected, no exceptions.<\/p>\n

What about personal accounts?<\/p>\n

If you use a personal Microsoft account for Outlook, Xbox<\/a>, or Windows 11<\/a>, you\u2019re not off the hook either. Microsoft has already started phasing out SMS for authentication and account recovery on personal accounts too, though there\u2019s no confirmed deadline yet for regular users.<\/p>\n

We should suggest not waiting around for Microsoft to flip the switch on you. Set up a passkey<\/a> now, or switch to Microsoft Authenticator if that\u2019s more your style. Passwords alone just aren\u2019t cutting it anymore, especially with AI making phishing scarier by the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microsoft just sent a warning to IT admins, and it\u2019s a big one. The company wants everyone to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[25,420,7829,1221,320,7828,3246],"class_list":["post-138554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-microsoft","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-azure","tag-azure-ai","tag-computing","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-ai","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}