MFA Did Not Fail, It Was Just Not Designed to Answer The Right Question

^{January 27, 2026}

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has not failed.

In fact, MFA has been one of the most effective security improvements organisations have adopted over the last decade. It dramatically reduced the misuse of stolen credentials, password reuse, and basic account compromise.

But as cyber incidents continue to rise, a misconception is starting to take hold; that MFA should have prevented the attacks.

In many cases, MFA was never designed to answer the question that now matters most.

MFA is very good at answering one thing:

“Is the account holder present right now as a user of this system?”

What it does not answer is a different, more consequential question:

“Should this user be allowed to do this, at this moment?”

That distinction is subtle, but critical.

Once MFA is satisfied, most systems assume trust for the duration of a session. From that point on, approvals, changes, data access, and high-risk actions often proceed without further challenge, even if circumstances have changed.

MFA confirms access. It does not confirm authority or intent.

Modern breaches increasingly involve:

• Valid credentials

• Legitimate sessions

• Actions that systems have allowed

Attackers do not always break in, they operate within the rules the system enforces.

And those rules are usually static:

• Permissions granted weeks or months ago

• Roles that have not kept pace with organisational change

• Standing access that was never meant to be permanent

When something goes wrong, the question is not “Why did MFA fail?” it should be: “Why did the system allow this action?”

And that is not a failure of MFA, it is a limitation of what it was built to do.

Authentication proves who you are. Authorisation proves what you are allowed to do.

Most security stacks treat these as sequential and settled problems:

• Authenticate once

• Authorise based on stored roles

• Assume trust until logout

But authority is not static. People change roles, responsibilities shift and context matters.

Yet systems rarely re-validate authority at the point where risk actually materialises, the moment an action is taken.

The OS Credential Challenge was designed to sit alongside MFA and IAM (Identity Access Management) to enhance, not replace them.

It introduces a new control point where it matters most.

When a user attempts a sensitive action, such as approving a transaction, accessing restricted systems, or making a critical change, the system issues a credential challenge.

That challenge asks the user for cryptographic proof of the specific credentials required to perform that action, at that moment, for example:

• Role

• Employment status

• Certification

• Delegated authority

Crucially, the user’s underlying data is never exposed.

The system does not rely on assumptions made at login, it verifies authority in real time and every challenge and response is:

• Permissioned by the user

• Cryptographically signed

• Recorded as immutable proof on the OS Event Chain

So decisions are not just enforced, they are provable.

When boards, auditors, or regulators ask: “Why was this allowed?”

“Because they completed a MFA process” is no longer a sufficient answer.

System owners are now expected to demonstrate:

• That authority existed

• That it was valid at the time

• That the system enforced it intentionally

Origin Secured’s Credential Challenge provides system owners with material proof of authority, moving organisations beyond compliance theatre, and embedding dynamic security in real-time, without adding friction or forcing a rip-and-replace of existing tools.

MFA remains a critical foundation of modern security.

But the threats organisations face today do not stop at login; they exploit what happens after someone has accessed a system through legitimate means..

Security has moved from who is accessing the system to what they are allowed to do at the moment of action.

That is the question MFA was never built to answer and it is the question the OS Credential Challenge was designed to address.

Stuart Kenny

CEO, Origin Secured