How to Stop Threats that Bypass Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has long been hailed as one of the most effective ways to secure user accounts. By requiring something you know (password) and something you have (a code or device), it was designed to stop attackers even if a password was stolen.

But attackers have caught up. Today, phishing kits and other techniques can bypass MFA entirely, without the victim ever realizing it.

So how exactly do these attacks work? And more importantly, how can businesses stop them?

Let’s break it down.

MFA Isn’t Foolproof Anymore: How Attackers Get Around It

Instead of trying to crack codes or brute-force tokens, many cybercriminals are targeting the human element and session-based vulnerabilities.

Here are some of the more common tactics used today:

• Social engineering: Attackers trick users into sharing their one-time passcodes (OTPs) through fake alerts or urgent-sounding messages.
• MFA fatigue attacks: By bombarding a user with repeated MFA requests (often through push notifications), attackers hope the user will approve one out of frustration or confusion.
• SIM swapping: Criminals hijack phone numbers to intercept SMS-based MFA codes.
• Malware and info-stealers: Some malware now grabs authentication tokens and session cookies directly from a compromised system.
• Phishing kits with session hijacking: The most advanced method, Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM), uses fake login pages to capture both credentials and MFA codes in real time.

Real-World Example: Phishing Kit That Bypasses MFA in Action

Let’s take a look at a real phishing kit attack that demonstrates just how attackers bypass Multi-Factor Authentication using Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) techniques.

View analysis session with Tycoon phishing kit

In this sandbox session, the Tycoon2FA phishing kit was used to target Microsoft 365 users. As soon as the malicious link was opened inside ANY.RUN’s interactive sandbox, the service flagged the activity as phishing and labeled it as connected to the Tycoon kit.

Give your team the power to detect and shut down MFA-bypassing threats before damage is done. Try ANY.RUN Now

What makes Tycoon2FA particularly dangerous is how it handles MFA:

Victims are tricked into entering both their credentials and MFA codes on a fake Microsoft login page.

The phishing kit relays these details to the real Microsoft service in real-time, capturing a valid session cookie in the process.

With the session cookie in hand, the attacker can access the victim’s account without needing to re-enter the MFA code again, essentially hijacking the session invisibly.

In the presented example, the phishing page even adapted dynamically. When a user entered an email ending in @abc.com (belonging to a Disney-owned domain), the background of the fake login page changed to a Disney-themed image. This personalized touch was designed to further fool the user into thinking the page was legitimate.

Why Traditional Defenses Miss MFA Bypass Attacks

Legacy security tools like email filters, antivirus software, and firewalls are mportant but they often fail to catch phishing kits that bypass MFA.

Here’s why:

• Newly registered or low-reputation domains: Phishing sites are often hosted on domains that haven’t yet been flagged by threat intel feeds.
• Live user interaction: These attacks don’t trigger until a user interacts with the site. There’s no malware drop, no attachment to scan, just a fake login page.
• No file, no flag: Since many phishing kits operate entirely within the browser, there’s no downloadable file to trigger traditional detection systems.

As a result, these attacks slip through, undetected, until someone falls for the bait, and by then, it’s too late.

To catch them before they reach your users, you need a solution that can see exactly how the attack behaves in real time, even when nothing looks suspicious on the surface.

How to Prevent MFA Bypass Attacks Fast

As the Tycoon2FA phishing kit example shows, even MFA can be defeated. But there’s a way to stop them before causing any damage to the business.

The fastest and most effective way to prevent attacks that bypass MFA is to proactively analyze suspicious URLs and emails inside ANY.RUN’s Interactive Sandbox. Why? Because it doesn’t just scan for known threats, it lets you see the attack play out exactly as a victim would experience it.

Real-time visibility: Watch phishing activity unfold as it happens, including fake login pages, dynamic branding, and session hijacking, so your team can identify threats before users even report them.

Interactive process tree: Trace every action the phishing kit triggers, with a visual map of all subprocesses. This helps analysts understand attack flow instantly and reduce investigation time.

Fast initial verdict: ANY.RUN typically flags threats in under 40 seconds, so you can act quickly.

MITRE ATT&CK mapping: Get a complete view of the tactics and techniques used, perfect for red teamers, SOCs, and incident response.

Detailed, shareable reports: Generate reports with screenshots, IOCs, execution flow, and behavioral flags, making it easy to share findings with leadership, compliance, or third parties.

ANY.RUN’s sandbox gives your team the full picture, not just a vague alert. It’s what lets you move from “potential threat” to “confirmed and blocked” in minutes.

Don’t Let MFA Give You a False Sense of Security

MFA bypass attacks are quiet. They don’t raise alarms, until it’s too late.

Give your security team the visibility they need to catch threats like Tycoon2FA early, investigate confidently, and shut down sessions before attackers gain control.

Start your 14-day trial of ANY.RUN now and experience the difference of interactive, real-time threat analysis.