The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is introducing new regulations to help better protect Australian businesses which will impact all software providers servicing Australian organisations, including Xero. They are committed to helping protect your businesses data and complying with the ATO regulations, which is why they’re letting us pass on information to you, our clients & contacts, to know about some changes coming to Multi Factor Authentication (MFA).

MFA “Trust this device” reduced to 24 Hours
When you log into your Xero account and select “Trust this device”, you will need to authenticate your device every 24 hours, instead of the current 30 days. This change will also impact any app that uses Xero Single Sign-On (SSO) to log in.

This will start to come into effect from October 6th.

This change affects all Australian organisations, even if you are located in a different country.

Xero have written their own blog for more information on this process.

Easy authentication with Xero Verify
To make it easier to authenticate your account, if you haven’t already, you can download the Xero Verify app. The Xero Verify app will send notifications to your mobile device for faster authentication (instead of having to open the app and enter a code to log in).

For more information, read their article or watch their video.

The free app is available on the Apple and Google app stores – just search for ‘Xero Verify’, then download it to your smartphone or tablet.

“Don’t lock it” option no longer available on Xero’s mobile apps
Xero’s suite of mobile apps, which include the Xero Accounting App, Xero Expenses and Xero Projects will also be impacted by the new ATO regulations. When the new versions are introduced, you will no longer be able to choose the lock device option “Don’t lock it”. You will either need to use a security code or Face ID (which will be available on Android for the first time and is currently available on iOS).

At Xero, they are the custodians of your data and are committed to providing their customers with even stronger security.

For more information about the updated ATO regulations, please visit the ATO website.

If you or your team require assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.