Deprecation of Microsoft Basic Authentication

Microsoft disabled Basic Authentication on 1 January 2023, this has resulted in certain third-party mail clients no longer working with College email. ICT can unfortunately offer little to no assistance in getting unsupported email clients working.

Why has Microsoft disabled basic authentication?

Basic Authentication is a method of authentication that involves sending your username and password with every request. In light of ongoing cyber security threats, Microsoft disabled support for basic authentication and are requiring people to use Modern Authentication as it supports enhanced protection mechanisms such as Multi Factor Authentication.  

Downloading email to a local system may lead to data compromise if the local system storage is not encrypted. This could result in the issuing of fines for data breach by the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

Moving to modern authentication

The College supports the use of Microsoft Outlook for emails. Outlook should already be up to date for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Outlook for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and Outlook via Web Access (using a suitable modern, up to date web browser such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome).

You are therefore only required to update any third-party, non-ICT supported, email clients that you use on your computer.

To prevent issues with accessing your email, and to benefit from ICT’s support, we recommend using Outlook to access College emails. Follow the Instructions on our website to setup Outlook for your device.

Frequently asked questions and general advice

Third-party (unsupported) email clients

ICT can unfortunately offer little to no assistance in getting unsupported email clients working.

If you wish to continue to receive College emails using third-party providers, you could try the following general advice:

  • Check whether your email offers "native Exchange" support (very few clients that don't come from Microsoft will do this).
  • If it doesn't offer native support, then it is almost certainly using the IMAP protocol to access the Office 365 Exchange server. You will need to check whether the client supports IMAP authentication via "OAuth2", the industry-standard protocol for authorization. If it doesn't, then it's time to start planning a move to an email client which will continue working, such as Microsoft Outlook. Follow the Instructions on our website to setup Outlook for your device.

I cannot use Microsoft Outlook on my device

Most mobile device built-in email apps typically support modern authentication and are compatible with Outlook.

If you are in the minority where Outlook does not work, you can verify that your device is running the latest version of its email app. If the email app is at its current version, sign out and back into your account.

If you are notified that you are still using basic authentication after you have done the above, you might need to remove the account from the device and then add it back.

Setting up app passwords

Some non-browser applications do not support modern authentication processes such as MFA. If you are having difficulty accessing your College emails on one of these apps, you may be able to set up an app password, which will still allow you to securely access your email. 

Visit our app passwords webpage, which lists the most used apps and outlines how you can setup an app password. If the app type or version you have isn’t listed there, please check the vendor’s website to see if your app is supported by modern authentication.

Mac Mail doesn't authenticate, how do I make it work?

This email client is not supported by ICT, but our general advice is:

If are using Mac Mail and you aren't prompted to re-enter your password or can't see any of your email, you'll need to remove and then re-add your account from Apple Mail on your computer to enable modern authentication.

How to remove your email from Apple Mail

  1. Open the Mail app on your computer.
  2. Go to Mail in the upper-left corner.
  3. Select Settings.
  4. Select Accounts.
  5. Select an account.
  6. Click Remove.

How to add your account

  1. Go to Mail.
  2. Select Add Account
  3. Select Microsoft Exchange
  4. Enter your account information.
  5. If you're asked about your account type, you'll need to choose Work or school, not Personal, to continue.

After successfully removing and re-adding your email account, it should automatically start using modern authentication.

Visit Apple's support web pages for more information.