Microsoft Sunsets Basic Authentication…

September 15, 2022 in Collegewide

But what does this really mean to you and should you be concerned about anything?

The majority of people at UF have quietly been converted to using the replacement to Basic Authentication, called Modern Authentication (or by its more technical term OAuth v2.0). Because most people are accustomed to logging in with the UF login page, the change was probably not even noticed when Outlook redirected to the UF login page rather than its standard password dialog window.

But there’s more. You may still face problems accessing your email once Basic Authentication is no longer supported. It likely won’t be a problem on a laptop or desktop computer however. Most of the issues will come from mobile devices.

If you received a direct email from UFIT or from Engineering IT Support, then you were identified as someone that would be impacted by this change. Access to your email/calendar will be interrupted in some manner (usually on your mobile device).

Keep reading to understand the differences between the two authentication methods and the impacts this has.

Table of Contents

When will Basic Authentication be disabled?

Basic authentication will be disabled by Microsoft on Oct. 1, 2022 within Office 365. Since Office 365 is a big environment, Basic Authentication will be disabled in university tenants over the next few days. So, the actual day it will be disabled for GatorMail is not known.

How does Basic Authentication work in Office 365 / GatorMail?

With Basic Authentication, your email/calendar client will transmit your username and password to Office 365 (Exchange Online), branded at UF as GatorMail. Office 365 then forwards this information to UF’s authentication services. If authentication was successful, UF sends a token back to Office 365 so you can connect and use your email/calendar.

What is Modern Authentication?

Modern Authentication is the reverse of Basic Authentication. When you authenticate with Modern Authentication in Office 365, Office 365 does not collect any usernames and passwords. Instead, it redirects you to UF’s authentication services (the UF Login page) for you to login. Once you successfully login, the UF Login page sends a token to Office 365 so you can connect and use your email/calendar.

Modern Authentication is more secure than Basic Authentication since Microsoft never collects your username and password. It simply receives a token to UF that says you’ve successfully authenticated.

So, if you are seeing the UF login page with your email/calendar client, than you know that you are using Modern Authentication.

Which clients are capable of Modern Authentication in Office 365 / GatorMail?

The following is a non-exhaustive list of clients which are capable of authentication to Office 365 / GatorMail with Modern Authentication:

  • Outlook on the web (Outlook Web App (OWA))
  • Outlook for Windows (2016 or newer)
  • Outlook for Mac (2016 or newer)
  • Outlook App for Android
  • Outlook App for iOS (version 10.x or greater)
  • Mail app on iOS (iOS 11.x or greater)
  • Mail app on MacOS (MacOS 10.14 (Mojave) or greater)
  • Gmail app on Android (July 8th, 2022 update or later (also varies by device and manufacturer))
  • Thunderbird app (77.0b1 or later)

Compatibility is not a guarantee and depends heavily on the developer and manufacturer. UFIT only supports the Outlook app on mobile devices.

How do I configure my applications to use Modern Authentication?

We’ve created a number of Modern Authentication articles within our Knowledgebase on this website (available by searching for Modern Authentication). Most of these articles simply point to the documentation created by UFIT for https://www.mail.ufl.edu/:

Is there anything else that may be impacted by this change?

Of course! It is not possible for us to know every tool used to interact with GatorMail. One such integration was discovered this week and there may be more as time goes on. This space will be used to document those items found.

Zoom

Zoom has the ability to sync meetings from your Outlook calendar into the Zoom desktop app. This integration is turned on via your online profile at https://ufl.zoom.us/. If you’ve been a longtime user of this feature it is likely using Basic Authentication. See our knowledgebase about reconfiguring this setting:

I’d like to learn more about Office 365 authentication?

If you’d like to learn more about Basic and Modern Authentication in Office 365, please review the following documents from Microsoft: