How to add MFA to your homegrown auth using WorkOS

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enhances security by adding an extra layer to authentication systems, and this guide provides instructions on integrating WorkOS's MFA API into an existing authentication system using either Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTP) or SMS-based verification. It covers enrolling authentication factors, creating and verifying challenges, and managing factor and challenge IDs, emphasizing a preference for TOTP over SMS due to security vulnerabilities associated with SMS, such as SIM-swapping and lack of encryption. The guide also outlines best practices for integrating MFA, including enforcing time-bound challenges, logging MFA events, rotating MFA devices, and mitigating MFA fatigue by limiting prompts for low-risk sessions. It advises on securing secrets, ensuring short lifetimes for challenge tokens, and implementing rate limiting and cooldowns for verification attempts, while also recommending auditing and monitoring of MFA events to detect anomalies and ensure enforcement.