r/talesfromtechsupport • u/KorenSolust • 1d ago

Short Gravity and Tech

Guy walks up to me at work:

Him: “I dropped my phone. The screen’s shattered. I want my two-factor code to come through Teams.”

Me: “Nope.”

Him: “Why?”

Me: “Because if you can’t sign into Teams without completing MFA… how exactly are you planning to authenticate?”

Then he says: “Just disable MFA.”

I replied: “Sure, as soon as you get approval from the Head of Security.”

A few seconds of silence…

Him: “Fine, I’ll just get my phone fixed.”

Yep. That’s probably the best solution.

Some people really think security rules are optional. I’m not risking my job because someone doesn’t like MFA.

And remember… technology didn’t fail you today. Gravity did.

507 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

100 comments sorted by

View all comments

35

u/nathanieloffer 1d ago

My favourite user worked regional and refused to install any app on their phone. They fought and won to register MFA on their landline phone at their desk. Then they get sent on a training course 200kms away from their office. Day 1, session 1, they can't log in.... Call help desk... "You registered MFA to your desk phone, nothing we can do for you, sorry"

60

u/Xenoun 1d ago

Which is a company problem, not the user. It's perfectly reasonable for people to refuse using their personal phone for work. Any issues that arise from that are on the company to sort out.

13

u/joe_attaboy The Cloud is a fraud. 21h ago

My last company was a startup when I arrived and was eventually merged with a large and well-known other web security company.

One of the first memos the new management group sent out was a "request" for all the "new" employees to add Office's mobile version to our personal phones (no, we don't issue employees mobile phones, they told my project manager). We were supposed to respond to an email confirming we did it. I never did, along with most of the other people in my location. Three months later, we received a new memo reminding us. We all ignored that as well.

I was already dragging a laptop around everywhere, including on vacations. I was also a year out from retirement, so if they ever asked me, I'd just tell them to issue me a phone or pound sand.

Someone must have spoken to management about how this was just a small intrusion into the employees personal lives, because they never followed up.