Security News > 2021 > October > User locked out of Microsoft account by MFA bug, complains of customer-hostile support

Konstantin Gizdov, an IT professional, was locked out of his Microsoft account by a bug in the company's Multi-Factor Authentication, but says support refused to acknowledge the bug or recover his account.

A Microsoft account is distinct from a Microsoft 365 account, and although it is mainly aimed at consumers it is hard to avoid, for logging onto a new Windows PC or obtaining apps from the Microsoft Store.

In the end he diagnosed the problem as "The account login still thinks that MFA should happen. However, it cannot. I've been locked out of the account for good."

He contacted support again, was given a new account reinstatement form, but that did not work because the account was not suspended.

Is part of the problem that Microsoft accounts are treated as a free offering? "I believe yes. Part of the problem is that even though I'm paying for lots of Microsoft services they treat all personal accounts as free and on top of that they do not have a dedicated team dealing with the issues," he says.

Will he continue to use a Microsoft account? "Yes, I will as unfortunately Microsoft is so big and seeps into everything, so barely any IT professional nowadays can get by without a Microsoft account." His advice to others is that "People need to create and keep safe an account recovery code."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/10/12/user_locked_out_of_microsoft/