What Does the Attribute authMethodFirstType Mean in System Logs
Jan 16, 2026
Administration
Okta Identity Engine
Overview
When the user signs in to Okta, the authMethodFirstType attribute attribute displays the First Authentication Method used to log in.
Applies To
- System Log
Solution
The authMethodFirstType attribute refers to the user's first attempted authentication method. Sometimes, it can include a null-value hash value for the user's password.
This value cannot be used to determine the user's real password. Okta will never include any type of password in plain text anywhere, and it only stores the password hash and compares it against the stored hash on the user's next login. It does not know the actual password of the user.
