EWS Basic Authentication Deprecation

Below is important information about your IPFX system. Please read this and send any questions you might have to support@ipfx.com

What's happening

Microsoft have advised that starting 1 October 2022, they will start to randomly select tenants and disable basic authentication access for MAPI, RPC, Offline Address Book (OAB), Exchange Web Services (EWS), POP, IMAP, Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), and Remote PowerShell. Microsoft will post a message to your Message Center 7 days prior and also to the Service Health Dashboard for your tenant on the day of the change. Here’s the latest from Microsoft on what’s happening to Basic Auth.
Basic Authentication Deprecation in Exchange Online – September 2022 Update - Microsoft Tech Community

When will it happen?

You should have received a message in Message Center seven days before Microsoft turns off Basic Authentication. You can use the One-Time Re-Enablement to re-enable or opt-out of the disabling of Basic Authentication. The instructions on how to do this are in the link above. This will take about an hour to take effect and can remain enabled until the end of December 2022.

How will it affect me?

Your IPFX instance uses Basic Authentication to authenticate when using the EWS protocol. If Basic Authentication is disabled our ability to retrieve mail will stop. EWS is also used when doing IPFX Exchange Server Side Sync for Presence (where your email calendar will update your IPFX presence) and Voicemail Email Notification (where voicemails are sent to your email). It is also utilised with the IPFX Email Queuing Module. If you are using email on prem or are on Office 365 or Hybrid with IPFX Client Side Sync this won’t affect you, however if you are using Office 365 or Hybrid and you are using the IPFX Exchange Server Side Sync or the IPFX Email Queuing module you will be affected.

What to do?

Now that Microsoft is rolling out this change, IPFX can confirm we are preparing changes to our software to work with Microsoft’s new standard. We will communicate further with you in the next couple of weeks to schedule a time to advise next steps. As the upcoming changes may require some technical assistance, please also forward this to your IT team and let other key stakeholders in your business know.

In the meantime, Microsoft have advised the above workaround is safe and easy to implement and can be used until the end of 2022, so if you have been notified of the change, please in the interim complete the steps as noted above.