How to Enforce 2FA for External Applications Connected to Atlassian Crowd

[Harshit_miniOrange]

Many large organizations use Atlassian Crowd as a centralized Identity Provider (IdP) to manage authentication and access across their application ecosystem using Single Sign-On (SSO). While Crowd simplifies login by allowing users to authenticate with a single set of credentials, adding an additional layer of verification such as 2FA becomes essential for securing access to sensitive systems. This becomes a major security concern when Crowd is used to authenticate users into critical non-Atlassian applications.

This article explains how organizations can enforce application-specific 2FA after Crowd login using the miniOrange Crowd 2FA add-on, without disrupting existing SSO workflows.


Crowd as an IdP for Multiple Applications

In many enterprise setups, Crowd acts as a central authentication authority where users log in using Crowd credentials and gain access to multiple connected applications via SSO. These applications can include Jenkins, SonarQube, GitLab, Nexus Repository, Grafana, ServiceNow, and custom internal enterprise tools.

While this setup simplifies access management, it relies mainly on password-based authentication, which is vulnerable to phishing, brute-force attacks, and credential leaks.


The Security Gap

In a default flow, a user accesses an application, is redirected to Crowd, enters valid credentials, and gets logged in. Without enforced multi-step authentication, access to sensitive systems are exposed to higher risk. At the same time, security frameworks such as DORA, NIS2, and CISA increasingly mandate or recommend Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).


How miniOrange Helps

To address this gap, miniOrange Crowd 2FA adds a strong second authentication factor immediately after Crowd login. Once Crowd validates the username and password, our add-on triggers 2FA, ensuring users are verified using something they know, have, or are. The solution integrates seamlessly with Crowd and existing SSO setups, requiring no changes to the current identity architecture.

Authentication Flow with Crowd 2FA

1. When miniOrange Crowd 2FA is enabled for an application, the user first authenticates via Crowd using SSO. 

2. After successful authentication, the 2FA challenge is triggered, and access is granted only after completing the second factor. Even if credentials are compromised, unauthorized access is blocked.

Application-Level 2FA Control

Admin gets granular control to enforce 2FA only for selected applications. High-risk systems such as CI/CD tools, repositories, or monitoring platforms can be secured, while low-risk applications remain unaffected. For example, enabling 2FA for Jenkins ensures users are always prompted for 2FA when accessing Jenkins, without impacting other Crowd-connected apps.


Authentication Methods & Features

miniOrange supports 8+ authentication methods including: OTP over SMS and Email, mobile authenticator apps (TOTP), Duo push notifications, YubiKey hardware tokens, WebAuthn, security questions, backup codes, and more.

Advanced security features include:

• 🌐IP Restriction & Whitelisting - Allow logins only from trusted IPs

• 🛑Brute Force Protection - Block repeated failed login attempts

• 👥User-Based Policies - Enforce different 2FA methods by role or group

For usability, the solution offers:

• 🌍 Multilingual Support - Show 2FA screens and messages in your users’ preferred language

• 📌Remember My Device - Reduce friction for trusted devices

• 🎨Custom Login Pages - Match your org’s branding

and many more..

The miniOrange Crowd 2FA add-on enables secure, flexible, and application-specific Two-Factor Authentication for environments using Atlassian Crowd. It helps organizations protect both Atlassian and non-Atlassian applications, meet compliance requirements, and defend against modern authentication attacks, without compromising user experience.

In today’s threat landscape, 2FA is no longer optional - it’s essential. 🔐

If you have any questions or want to see the plugin in action, reach out to us at atlassiansupport@xecurify.com.