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Two Factor Authentication and AWS Cognito Identity Pools

There's always a video to watch. Things to learn, labs to try - and a thought hit - What service does AWS provide that allows users to log in with Two Factor Authentication (2FA)?

A refresher; 2FA is a combination of what you know, who you are, what you have - and in the future, probably what you ate for breakfast - to log into sensitive systems. 

As of 2021, Google made 2FA mandatory for logging in to your Google accounts

For the DoD folks out there, that keycard you use to log into a computer is a form of 2FA.  A fingerprint scanner, or an authentication app on your phone also count.

Back to the question - Does AWS have options for 2FA if you use their Directory options?


They do, of course - Cognito Identity Pools

(The Tweet is old, but the service still exists.)



ServerlessStack walks us through the options.


The extended set up list.


If you can't remember the username but you can remember the email address.


Birthdate is here, but what if you just want the year? You can make a custom attribute shortly below this:


The next page includes things like password strength, who signs up users, temporary password life.

Here's MFA:






The factors are e-mail and phone numbers. I wonder if biometrics will be an option in the future, or is that a line even Amazon and the world citizens won't cross for the sake of convenience.
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