Starting in October, Microsoft will be turning off support for Basic authentication in favor of the more secure Modern authentication for Exchange Online. As a result, any email application an employee or student uses to access their College of Western Idaho (CWI) email must support Modern authentication.
Those who use current versions of Microsoft Outlook or Outlook on the web will not be impacted by this change. If you do not use Outlook, CWI recommends you begin using it immediately as other email clients may work but are not supported. Outlook can be downloaded for free from the Android or IOS app stores or can be downloaded online for Windows and Mac. Outlook on the web can be accessed from a web browser.
Microsoft has not provided an exact date of when the new security measures will go into effect for all users, but they will begin disabling Basic authentication for random customers beginning Oct. 1, 2022. The entire process is expected to be completed for all customers by the end of the year.
The reason behind the change is because Microsoft considers Basic authentication to be an outdated industry standard due to weak credentials which can be easily compromised. Modern authentication uses more up-to-date security standards making it more difficult for bad actors to compromise your account credentials.
For those who would like more information, please visit Microsoft’s information page to learn more. You can also reach out to the CWI Help Desk at helpdesk@cwi.edu or 208.562.3444.
