Approval notifications

Question

Received a notification to approve sign in that I did not request. Do not see it on recent activity page.

Answer 1

Sign into the account here: https://account.microsoft.com, then go to Security to review the sign in activities. When you reviewed the account's sign in activities, Click into those labeled as "unsuccessful sign in", you can click on it to expand it to review the Session activity. If it is incorrect password, it won't generate a code. And there's nothing to worry about. If it is request denied xxx, that means this activity had your password entered correctly, and a code was generated, but it didn't pass the two factor verification. In the latter scenario, you want to change the password asap.

If you can NOT find any unsuccessful sign-in with the "request denied" labeling, it can mean that someone else left your contact information as their security info, usually due to typo. In this case, your account is not in any danger. Unfortunately there's also nothing you can do about it until this other user realized they needed to update their contact info.

Another way to find out which scenario is yours is to go to the account https://account.microsoft.com click on Security > Advanced Security options, set up authentication app instead. That way, if you continue to receive code via text or email instead, you would know 100% that it is NOT about your account, but someone else left your phone/email as their contact info due to typo.

Answer 2

Select Deny on any sign-in approval notification that was not initiated. This keeps the account safe even if someone else tried to sign in.

Then secure the account:

1. Go to the Recent activity page at https://account.live.com/Activity and review the last 30 days of sign-ins. Only significant events are shown, so a specific prompt might not appear, but still review all entries.
2. If anything looks unfamiliar (location, device, app), select Secure your account on that event.
3. Change the account password and update security settings using the Security settings page linked from the Recent activity article.
4. Remove any devices or sign-in methods that are not recognized.

If unrequested prompts continue, do not approve any of them and consider switching to Microsoft Authenticator or adjusting sign-in methods as described in the Outlook mobile and Authenticator guidance.

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References:

• Using Outlook mobile to sign in
• Check the recent sign-in activity for your Microsoft account
• What is the Recent activity page?