Google Admin Workspace - 2FA on Admin accounts

[Bankesy]

Good afternoon,

 

Today, what seems like all of a sudden, we are unable to log into any of our Google Workspace Admin accounts as they "do not meet the organisations 2-step verification policy"

 

I knew changes were being enforced to admin accounts but I did not think that was yet and last time I checked, we had 2FA off across the organisation in Workspace.

 

Has anybody else had an issue with this?

 

Thanks

[itskdog]

Ran into this ourselves - had to re-verify the domain to prove it was us to get back into the break-glass account to allow 2FA to be set up for our day-to-day accounts with lesser rights.

 

Recovering administrator access to your account  |  User management  |  Google Workspace Help

[synaesthesia]

Why on *earth* would you not have already had 2FA on workspace admin accounts?

[Koldov]

I got a couple of emails about this...

 

The first one states: 

"Two-step verification (2SV) is required for admins starting on 13 October
    
You're receiving this email because you're a Google Workspace super admin. No action is required if all current admins at your organisation..."

 

Then the second one states:

"2-Step Verification required for admins by 22 December
    
Dear Google Workspace admin,

You're receiving this email because you're a Google Workspace super admin. If you..."

 

Aslo: "Bear in mind:

• The 22 December date takes precedence over any enforcement date set in Two-step verification > Authentication.
• From now on, ensure that 2SV is on for any new admins, to prevent account lockouts."

 

EDIT...

 

Also one from August 2025: 

"Dear Google Workspace for Education administrator,

We’re writing to inform you that we will require all Google Workspace for Education admins to set up 2-step verification (2SV) to sign into their accounts starting December 4, 2025"

 

I couldn't be bothered to search back any further... I'll admit they were a bit vague about the actual date, but we sure knew it was coming!

Edited March 25 by Koldov

[Koldov]

One thing to check...

 

It's not just for Global/Super Admins, but I think I remember reading somewhere it's all admins.

 

I found for any SLT members that wanted to use the 'Visit a Class' option, I seem to remember I had to give them minor admin access to able to do that. Luckily my SLT were all 2SV, but I know another school where other members of staff needed this option and weren't.

 

This may also include anyone who has 'change a password' options... there's also probably a lot of other roles/permissions that now trigger a 2SV requirement if you've split/delegated roles out to various staff members.

Edited March 26 by Koldov

[Zoom7000]

On 25/03/2026 at 15:03, synaesthesia said:

Why on *earth* would you not have already had 2FA on workspace admin accounts?

 

This! Regardless of the organisations policy, any admin account should be protected with 2FA as a bare minimum!

[paulkerton]

They did announce they were enforcing this in December 2023... https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2023/12/release-notes-12-15-2023.html

[DGrice]

Just buy yourself a few cheap FIDO2 keys and use those. Best practices to have 2FA it in place anyway.

[Davit2005]

On 26/03/2026 at 16:24, Zoom7000 said:

 

This! Regardless of the organisations policy, any admin account should be protected with 2FA as a bare minimum!

I'd also use an account that is not your normal user account email address as well as 2FA 🙂