Email as an optional authenticator

The Email authenticator is auto-enrolled for both authentication and recovery flows. This is a change from Classic Engine, where it's only available for authentication flows if the enrollment policy requires it.

Auto-enrollment occurs when a user verifies their primary email address or if you provide it when you create the user. This ensures that the user doesn't receive redundant email enrollment challenges if they already proved they own the email address (self-service registration) or if they don't need to prove they own the email address (admin-created users).

The Email factor must be set to Disabled or Required before you upgrade to Identity Engine. Then, in Identity Engine, choose the setting for the Email authenticator based on your use case:

• Disabled: Okta recommends disabling the Email authenticator if the primary email accounts of your users are protected by Okta. Authentication emails are sent only to the primary email and not secondary email.
• Required: Okta recommends requiring the Email authenticator for extended workforce use cases and Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) use cases. Validating the primary email is a common use case for these identities.

Depending on how the user is created and who sets the password, the user may not be prompted to enroll in other optional authenticators when they first sign in.