xftax (xftax) asked a question.
We have found that once we authenticate using Okta mfa, we can close the browser for OWA and within a few minutes re-open the browser and it will still be active without having to re-authenticate. Please explain how to resolve this, or what is going on. Thanks
With SP-initiated applications like OWA, it's the service provider that is supposed to redirect your browser to Okta to authenticate. Microsoft puts a cookie on your system that controls when OWA will require you to authenticate again, and in my experience, it will go for days or even weeks before forcing my browser to authenticate with Okta again. It's terribly insecure, but I don't think it's a problem that Okta can solve. I have a sign-on rule on our Office 365 integration that is supposed to require MFA on any connection from outside of our corporate network, but it only works when Microsoft redirects a client to Okta to authenticate. If Microsoft doesn't redirect to Okta, then Okta can't present an MFA prompt. If anyone knows of a way to change this behavior, I'd be very interested.
Seems like you are grappling with O365 session time out settings. We observe the same, but haven't gotten around to address it properly. Here is a pointer: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/office365/enterprise/session-timeouts
According to that document, the default session timeout value for OWA is 6 hours, and I verified that our Exchange environment is still set to that value. However, despite periodic reboots, my personal, non-domain-joined machines at home are able to access my company O365 mailbox for many days after authenticating just once. And that includes clients like OWA, Outlook 2016 for Mac, and on my iPhone & iPad using the iOS Outlook client.
I think I'm going to open a support case with Microsoft for this behavior.
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We use cookies to provide the best website experience and to help understand marketing efforts. We may also share data with ad partners to reach potential customers across the web. To learn more, visit our Privacy Policy. Click here for Your Privacy Choices. You may also opt out of this sharing by signaling your preference via GPC, applicable only to the browser signaling the opt-out.
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These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
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According to that document, the default session timeout value for OWA is 6 hours, and I verified that our Exchange environment is still set to that value. However, despite periodic reboots, my personal, non-domain-joined machines at home are able to access my company O365 mailbox for many days after authenticating just once. And that includes clients like OWA, Outlook 2016 for Mac, and on my iPhone & iPad using the iOS Outlook client.
I think I'm going to open a support case with Microsoft for this behavior.