On January 16th, 2023, Microsoft has phased out Basic Authentication at Concord University for the higher security standard of Modern Authentication known as OAuth. The Modern Authentication protocols provides users with more secure access to Microsoft’s systems.
 

Any email application that uses Basic Authentication will no longer work. Therefore, if you are using Basic Authentication, you must update your authentication to send and receive your email.

 

What do I need to do?
 

If you are using the latest version of Outlook Desktop (2016 and later), or the latest version of the mobile app, you do not need to do anything because you already use Modern Authentication.  

How do I know if I’m using Modern Authentication?
 

The BEST option is to use the latest Outlook Desktop client (2016 or later), the Outlook Web through a web browser, or the latest version of the Outlook mobile app.  If you are using older mobile email clients like POP3, SMTP, IMAP, and Exchange Active Sync, you are using Basic Authentication and chances are your email will not work correctly (can't login).  To use IMAP or POP3 with modern authentication OAuth2 must be used.
 

A simple way to tell if a client app (for example, Outlook) is using Basic authentication or Modern authentication is to observe the dialog that's presented when you log in. 
 

Modern authentication displays a web-based login page: 



Basic authentication presents a dialog credential box: 


 

Another way is to check the connection status dialog box, by CTRL + right-clicking the Outlook icon in the system tray and choosing Connection Status. 
 

When using Basic authentication, the Authn column in the Outlook Connection Status dialog shows the value of “Clear.”  


When using Modern authentication, the Authn column in the Outlook Connection Status dialog shows the value of “Bearer”. 

If you use Outlook 2013 and cannot upgrade to 2016 or 2019, a Registry Key Change will be needed to convert it to modern authentication.  This is NOT needed on 2016 or later.   Outlook 2010 and earlier ONLY supports basic authentication, upgrading is recommended or you may use Outlook Web or Outlook mobile.

If you need more information on Microsoft disabling Basic Authentication, feel free to contact our helpdesk at [email protected] or 304-384-5291.