A quick note on an important point that I missed originally in Microsoft’s announcement. As users are starting to find their basic authentication mechanisms are being actively disabled, Microsoft have provided one last mechanism to prevent a complete outage if you rely on basic authentication currently.

Which Protocols Are Impacted?

If you’re using basic authentication for any of the following protocols, you might find that suddenly it has stopped working:

• Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
• Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• IMAP
• MAPI
• Offline Address Book (OAB)
• POP
• Remote PowerShell
• RPC

I Think This Impacts Me, What Do I Do?

Microsoft are offering one final time to re-enable Basic Authentication, via the self-service diagnostics, direct link here.

From this link, you can see which protocols are disabled, and choose a specific protocol that you can re-enable.

Warning: Microsoft Are Serious This Time

Microsoft have stated that any protocols that are re-enabled will be automatically disabled in the first calendar week of 2023, and no further exceptions will be permitted. You need to have migrated away from basic auth by this time.

For a full read of this announcement and the basic authentication retirement plan, read this blog post from Microsoft here.