Urgent action is required to update “basic authentication on (Microsoft) Exchange Online,” according to an article published this month in the authoritative technology publication TechTarget. A looming deadline for updates will have to be addressed, as “authentication support in Office 365 ends on Oct. 1 (2022)”, with Microsoft pushing for a shift to “more secure modern authentication.”

Microsoft’s security team and other security leaders across the globe cite multifactor authentication (MA) as a necessary form of layered defense, involving more than one set of independent credentials. However, actualizing the use of MA for many current installs of Microsoft Office 365 may not be possible. TechTarget wrote: “Multifactor authentication (MFA) might be difficult or not possible with basic authentication in place.” They continued, “basic authentication has also not received significant changes or updates to products that rely on it for authentication, such as the Microsoft identity platform”, the latter, one of the principal solutions that Microsoft recommends for security transformation.

Queue Associates, Inc. advocates strongly for, as TechTarget put forth, “migration to modern authentication,” which would significantly improve the capacity for organizations of many sizes “to mitigate some security gaps.” The article continues: “Now is the time to prepare for the transition to prevent problems with email and other Office 365 services.”

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