x3ja4 (x3ja4) asked a question.
Move Microsoft Office 365 from WS-Federation to Secure Web Authentication
Hello,
We are considering moving from WS-Federation to Secure Web Authentication (SWA) in order to enable password synchronization.
Could you clarify the potential implications of this change?
Additionally, should users be informed in advance, or will the impact be limited to a different login experience for applications that authenticate through Entra as the Identity Provider?
Thank you for your guidance.
Hello @x3ja4 (x3ja4) Thank you for posting on our Community page!
If your users are Federated they will not need a password for their Office applications/account as they login. If you remove the Federation then their current login/session might get terminated and they will have to login.
I would recommend to notify your users if you plan to do this change, as the login experience will be different if you plan to make this change.
While Federation uses SAML to authenticate your users, SWA will be Username and Password. This will no longer force users to use their Okta credentials or direct users to Okta for authentication.
Please also see our article on how SWA works below:
https://support.okta.com/help/s/article/What-is-Secure-Web-Authentication-SWA?language=en_US
Thank you for reaching out to our Community and have a great day!
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