The feature of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) via Email, enables BSS administrators to offer BSS users an extra layer of user-friendly protection during their login by enhancing the security of the platform and the privacy of the accounts. Specifically, with 2FA, a user needs to provide two different identity verification factors to confirm their identity, adding an additional layer of security beyond a password. Therefore, this feature grants users greater autonomy over their authentication preferences, aligning with the need for customizable security measures in your digital systems.

Enabling the 2FA Mechanism

To enable the 2FA mechanism, you have to proceed with the two following actions:

1. Enable the 2FA mechanism from within the BSS platform by navigating to the BSS Setup > Administration > System Options > User Authentication > Authentication Options and clicking on the BSS Options -> Two Factor Authentication (2FA) toggle button to activate it, which by default is inactive. After enabling the 2FA toggle button, you must save this change by clicking on the Save button. Otherwise, the enablement of 2FA mechanism will not be applied.

   

2. Once you have enabled the 2FA toggle button for the BSS platform and saved the change, you must also enable the 2FA Email Notification. By navigating to the BSS Setup > Administration > Notifications > Customer Notifications and selecting first the Group User Directory and then the Notification ‘Cloud Platform 2FA Verification Code’, you can view the systemic Email notification, where inside the General section, you need to click on the Active notification checkbox to enable it, because by default it is disabled. After enabling the Active notification checkbox, you must save this change by clicking on the Save button. Otherwise, the enablement of the 2FA notification will not be applied.
   

   

Once you have enabled the 2FA mechanism and its respective notification, for your BSS platform, you can then proceed to customize, according to your needs and business image, the notification/verification template of the email that will be dispatched to your users each time they log into the platform with their credentials. We already assume that the email addresses provided by the BSS users are real and accessible. This assumption ensures that when the system sends verification codes and notifications via email, the user users can access these emails once both the 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) mechanism and the respective Email notification are enabled.

Logging into BSS with 2FA

The classic login method in the BSS platform remains the same, but the 2FA security step enriches it. Specifically, the BSS user enters the credentials required for logging in, which include the client ID, username, and password, or if a URL with an alias is used, then only the username and password are used. Whether the user has organization Administrative rights or is a regular user, during the login process with local login credentials, they will go through the 2FA authentication procedure when it is enabled*.

Once the BSS user clicks the login button and passes the existing credentials verification, two actions occur:

1. A pop-up window opens, requesting the 2FA Verification Code.

2. An email is dispatched to the BSS account's email address belonging to the user.

Verification Code Pop-up

In the pop-up window that appears, the BSS user is requested to enter the six-digit verification code they received in their email. Of course, the email to which the verification code will be sent belongs to the user attempting to log in.
For extra security and historical purposes, at this stage, the email of the BSS user attempting to log in is recorded in the path BSS Setup > Administration > Personal Setup > Profile.

Inside the verification pop-up window, the BSS user can witness the Verification code field in which the 6-digit verification code that was dispatched to their email address must be filled in. The code is visible, and the BSS user can see it when they enter it. The field cannot accept more than 6 characters and only accepts numbers.

There are two main scenarios concerning the Verification code field:

• Valid Verification Code: When the active verification code is inserted into the verification field, and the Verify and Log In button is clicked, then the BSS user is successfully logged in and is redirected to the BSS Home Page.

• Invalid Verification Code: In this scenario, three reasons can invalidate the verification process and are analyzed below.:

  • When the BSS user leaves the Verification code field blank and clicks Verify and Log In, the following error message appears:

    

  • In case an incorrect code is entered from the one sent to the email notification, by clicking the Verify and Log In button, the following message appears:

    

  • When the BSS user attempts to enter the verification code after the code has expired, which occurs after 5 minutes**, or after 10 attempts → the following message is displayed:

    

For cases such as the aforementioned one where the verification code is expired, there is an option called Resend in the verification pop-up window that the user can interact with. This button is typically used when a BSS user needs to resend the verification email that was previously sent, but either it has expired or was not received in time. Please note that to prevent misuse, each verification code is single-use only, meaning that after it has been used, the code becomes invalidated. Lastly, when the BSS user clicks the Resend button, an informative message appears that informs the user that a new email has been dispatched.

Verification Email from the 2FA Mechanism

After the user fills in their BSS local credentials to log in to the BSS platform, a system-generated email notification is dispatched to the user's predefined email address containing the 2FA verification code.

The following email notification template is used:

Concerning the To: {#Contacts.Mail#} email field, when the user leaves this field empty, it is configured to automatically send the notification to the account associated {#Directory.Mail#}. Otherwise, if a merge field for the recipient is set to the To: field, then the merge field takes precedence.

Of course, BSS administrators can customize the email body to fit their business requirements.

The final 2FA notification email that is dispatched to the email address of the Storefront user looks like the following example: