Why does login require MFA every day, and sometimes two types of MFA?

Question

Every single day I have to log in to Jira again with username & password, then with MFA. Usually, it emails a code. Other times I have to get a code form my authenticator app. If I open a fresh or private browser, I have to do MFA for both an emailed code and an authenticator code. In addition, if I close my browser with multiple Jira tabs and open it again, I am forced to log in with username & password and MFA again for each tab. It's a frustrating waste of time.  Others using the same Jira say MFA is only required for them every few weeks. So why is Jira pestering me like this and can it be fixed?

Andrew Wilkinson_ca4bhy · Answer

Hi @Benjamin Črnjak

I am a Jira user (not admin).

Thanks. I checked my browser (Chrome) settings and under here:

chrome://settings/content/siteData

I had selected:
Delete data sites have saved to your device when you close all windows

I changed that to:
Allow sites to save data on your device

That solves two problems.

* If I close my browser and and reopen it, I do not have to log in to Jira again.
* I do not have to enter both and emailed code and a Authenticator app code.

Unfortunately, I am still left with the annoying MFA requirement to enter an emailed code every day, which is not the case for other users.

Benjamin Črnjak · Answer

Hi @Andrew Wilkinson ,

do you encounter the same problem in other browsers too?

what is your role - are you a jira user, or jira admin on your site?

There are some settings in Jira that could affect login behavior, but closing the browser and opening again (login required again) seems a bit strange for Jira (at least to me).

But there is one thing that might be the problem, could you check your browser settings and see if there is any option regarding clearing cache/history when browser is closed?
If so, you might try to disable those options and see if that helps.

Regards,

Benjamin