Microsoft is disabling basic authentication in random tenants worldwide starting October 1, 2022.
Since the announcement in September 2019, there have been multiple reminders and warnings from Microsoft about the move from Basic to Modern Authentication. Millions of tenants have already disabled basic authentication to protect themselves, but millions of others have not made the change.
Starting in October 2022, Microsoft will begin randomly selecting tenants and disabling their Basic Authentication access for MAPI, RPC, Offline Address Book (OAB), Exchange Web Services (EWS), POP, IMAP, Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) and Remote PowerShell. The move exists to protect their information from cyber attackers exploiting the insecure auth scheme.
Microsoft will announce the rollout seven days before commencing, posting the message to the Windows Message Centre. Each tenant will be notified via the Service Health Dashboard notifications when basic auth is disabled.
Although the rollout will disable basic authentication from October 2022, it can be temporarily re-enabled until December 2022. Re-enabling basic authentication will allow anyone who did not prepare for the change to do so before it is permanently disabled in January 2023.
Why is Microsoft disabling basic authentication?
The goal of disabling basic authentication is to improve data security as the number of cyberattacks that leverage basic auth increases.
Basic authentication or legacy authentication is an HTTP-based scheme that applications use for sending credentials in plain text to servers, endpoints or various online services.
Unfortunately, this allows cybercriminals to steal your credentials in middleman attacks over TLS and brute force attacks. they can steal text credentials from apps using basic auth via several tactics, including social engineering and info-stealing malware.
Modern authentication methods include a variety of different techniques that are all designed for increased security. Microsoft’s implementation of Open Authorization (OAuth), allows users to grant limited access rights from their mobile device without having traditional accounts on various platforms like Facebook or Google+.
OAuth access tokens can only be used to authenticate resources they are issued for.
Will this affect you?
The Depreciation of basic auth will affect a number of applications. Migrating to modern authentication will avoid disruptions when basic authentication is disabled on your tenancy. Some applications that will be affected are:
Microsoft Outlook on the Web
Microsoft Outlook for PC & Mac
Microsoft Outlook Mobile App
Mac Mail and Calendar App (10.13 High Sierra and older)
Most IMAP/POP Mail clients e.g. Thunderbird, Eudora
Android Mail
Apple iOS Mail app (iOS 10 and older)
Microsoft Office 2014 or prior
How to be prepared for this change and avoid disruptions
Administrators can disable basic authentication and allow users to use modern authentication through authentication policies. A new Authentication policy can be created and assigned to users.
Update Outlook for Windows, with the correct registry keys in place and the tenant-wide switch, is set to True (without that setting, Outlook won’t use Modern auth).
Implementing IMAP.AccessAsApp and POP.AccessAsApp permissions if you require POP/IMAP for interactive apps.
If you experience any difficulties with your Microsoft apps or need assistance changing to Modern Authentication, Key Tech can help! Call 1300 755 615or send us a message:
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Businesses are struggling at the moment due to the aftermath of the pandemic, staff and supply shortages and the cost of living increasing. Here at KeyTech, we want to relieve some of your business burdens with our technical expertise and reward you for introducing us to your associates.
By referring us to your business connections, we can unite and support each other in the local business community during these challenging times.
Terms and Conditions
*Referring business must be a current client of KeyTech and on a current contract with KeyTech
*Referred businesses will receive a 20% discount off their first month’s invoice
*20% discount will be applied to the referring business’ monthly invoice on the following month after their referral has converted to a sale
*There are no limits to how many referrals you make, each successful conversion adds 20% off. For example, if you refer 2 contacts and both take on services for 12 months, you receive 40% off your next month’s invoice and each of your referrals receives 20% off their first month.
On March 29 2022, the Morrison Government announced it will support Australian small businesses and encourage them to invest in digital technology, skills and training. The new measures are subject to decisions from the new Government.
Small Business Technology Investment Boost
The boosts are for eligible businesses that have less than $50 million in annual turnovers. Suitable businesses can claim eligible tech spending, of up to $100,000, until June 30 2023, in their 2022-23 tax return.
Small Business Skills & Training Boost
The Skills and Training Boosts will give small businesses access to a further 20% deduction on eligible external training courses for upskilling their employees. The Skills and Training Boost will apply to costs incurred from March 2022 until 30th June 2024, delivering $550 million in tax relief.
What can be claimed?
Claim on expenditures and depreciating assets that support digital uptake. Budget documents suggest SMEs will be free to claim the cost of
81% of security breaches occur as a result of simple passwords – 36% of those breaches are via phishing attacks. Cybercrime is at a record high, so we are hoping these tips will help you keep your data safe online.
Due to increasing identity fraud and cyber-attacks, we aim to inform you about what a great password should look like and how you can keep your credentials secure. Applying these tips will increase your online security and reduce the risk of a data breach.
Use a combination of characters.
Use a variety of UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, at least one number (for example 0-9) AND one character (for example !@#$%).
Don’t re-use your passwords.
More than one account will be at risk if your password is compromised.
When updating your passwords, ensure they are distinctly original because a slight change will not make them more secure.
Avoid using personal information in your passwords.
Using personal information in your passwords, such as your date of birth, pet and children’s names can make it easier for someone to hack into your account.
The longer the better!
Long passwords that contain a variety of characters will be more secure.
Change your password regularly*
*Changing to a new password every three months can limit breaches to multiple accounts and help your data stay secure online. Ensure your passwords are completely different and do not use a variation of the previous password.
Use a password manager.
There are a number of password managers available to individuals and businesses. A password manager gives you a central location to store all of your passwords. Password managers can generate secure passwords too!
Completely focused on a chat interface, meetings, and video calls, Microsoft Teams Essentials is designed especially for small businesses.
The difference between this new version and Microsoft 365 Business Basic is mainly centred around the functionalities of Teams and cloud storage. Teams Essentials offers extended limits like longer meetings and more storage. Among its special functions, specially designed for small businesses, the following functions stand out:
No time limit: you won’t have to worry about the time in your meetings anymore. This version has up to 30 hours, so time will no longer be a limit in both private and group meetings.
More capacity: Teams Essentials offers the ability to bring up to 300 people together in the same virtual room.
Calendar integration: you can use your existing calendar to control your meetings and times. This version will allow you to integrate your Outlook Calendar and soon also your Google Calendar.
Easy invitations: the function of inviting people to your meetings is much simpler in this version. You can simply invite them by adding their email address. They will receive a link to join your meeting. Also, if participants don’t have Teams, they can open the meeting in their browser. No more installations or user creations will be necessary.
More interactivity: virtual backgrounds, together mode, live closed captions, live reactions, and more. Everything you need to make your meetings much more interactive.
Ongoing chat: chat conversations will continue even if the meeting is over.
Small business group chats template: quickly start a group project and host meetings with anyone, assign tasks to teammates and create polls to receive feedback quickly all in one hub, taking productivity to the next level.
Mobile chat: you can have access to all the content of your meetings and organize them by locations, photos, files, etc. The main objective of all these improvements is to facilitate the us of applications and simplify them into a single app that meets all the needs that small businesses need in their day-to-day.
When it comes to pricing Microsoft Teams Essentials could look appealing at just $4 per user per month, against the Zoom Pro license is $14.99 per month. Microsoft Teams Essentials is now available.
Would you like to try it? What functionality would you add to this version of Teams for Small Business?
Did you know that if you use Teams, you can control its sounds and notifications? In this article, we are going to teach you 6 techniques for personalising teams.
1. Where are the notification settings?
Access your notification settings by selecting your profile photo in the upper right corner of Teams, then Settings> Notifications.
2. Enable or disable notifications
To choose whether to play a sound with each new notification, select the three dots next to your profile picture in the top right corner of Teams, then Settings> Notifications> toggle between off and on.
In this state, the notification sounds are on.
Note: Currently only Android mobile devices can choose what type of sound is played for notifications.
3. Default settings
By default, you’ll receive desktop notifications and activity feedback alerts for @mentions, direct messages (chat), and all-new conversations and @mentions on the channels and teams shown in your list.
All of these defaults can be changed.
4. Ways to be notified
The activity feed
You’ll find it in the upper left corner of Teams. This is where we’ll let you know what’s happening on your teams and channels.
Then there is chat
This is where group and one-on-one conversations happen. As you receive multiple messages, we will count them for you.
Desktop, also known as Banner, notifications
In Windows, they will be displayed in the lower right corner of the screen and then moved to the Action Center.
On Mac OS, they are displayed in the upper right corner of the screen and then moved to the Control Centre.
Note: If you use Teams on the web, some browsers will only display notifications in the browser tab where you are running Teams.
Windows
Mac
5. Email
If you want to use email to keep track of Team conversations as they happen, use the missed activity email. You can choose how often you get them.
For a summary of the day’s activity, please use the summary email. You will receive this email at the beginning of each day.
6. How notifications work in the mobile app.
One of the first things you’ll want to do is choose whether to send notifications to your phone always, or only when you’re not active on the desktop. (you are considered inactive after 3 minutes of desktop inactivity.)
The other thing you’ll want to set up is your quiet hours. To do this, go to More in the upper left corner of the mobile app, then Notifications > Quiet hours. Then, set a specific time of day when you want Teams to hold your notifications. You can also choose full days.
Need more help? More Info.
If you need to know how each of the notifications work step by step, we recommend you read this guide from the Microsoft support blog.
How to suppress noise in calls
A great feature of Teams is AI based noise suppression. This eliminates unwanted background noise from your surroundings. It works by using deep neural networks to analyse audio sources and separate human speech signals from unwanted noise.
How to turn on noise suppression
Click the three dots next to your profile picture in the upper right corner and then select the Settings option.
Choose Devices on the left and then under Noise Suppression, select one of the following options: Automatic (default), Low or High.
It is important to note that your processor must support Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (AVX2) to opt for the “high” setting. Users will be able to change this setting at any time, and once changed, the setting should be retained for the next meeting or call. Alex Eggers, Microsoft MVP, created a video that delves into its inner workings with the settings.
The advent of AI-based noise suppression is important step for Microsoft Teams. This should help limit distractions in a remote work setting. Although Microsoft says the feature will be generally available to desktop users in mid-December, there is no news on whether it will be rolled out on iOS and Android.
