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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Push Notification Authentication

MFA method where a sign-in prompt is sent to a registered mobile app for the user to approve.

Definition

Push authentication is user-friendly but vulnerable to MFA fatigue (prompt bombing), where attackers repeatedly trigger prompts until a user approves. Number matching and additional context such as location and application name mitigate this. Push is not considered phishing-resistant.

Example

An employee receives a push prompt to approve a VPN login and taps Approve in the authenticator app.

Exam tip

Repeated unexpected push prompts indicate MFA fatigue; number matching is the fix.

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