Tag: #MicrosoftCloudSecurity

Exchange Online – Basic Authentication Disabled Oct 1, 2022

There are three work weeks left until #Microsoft is scheduled to disable Basic Authentication access to Exchange Online. This is today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

Back in September 2019 Microsoft announced they are disabling Basic Authentication access to Exchange Online to be replaced with Modern Authentication methods built on OAuth 2.0 token-based authorization. Modern Authentication has many improvements which mitigate issues with Basic Authentication and provide an improved security posture but as we are all aware there were circumstances in the world that pushed that date forward.

Beginning October 1, 2022 Microsoft will start disabling Basic Authentication for MAPI, RPC, Offline Address Book (OAB), Exchange Web Services (EWS), POP, IMAP, Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), and Remote PowerShell access protocols on randomly selected Exchange Online tenants. You will know ahead of time when your tenant has been chosen by a posted message in your Microsoft365 Admin Center Messages 7 days beforehand and a post to the Service Health Dashboard notifications.

To prepare for this change check the Azure Active Directory Sign-In logs per New tools to block legacy authentication in your organization – Microsoft Tech Community which will help track down any clients still using Basic Authentication and allow you to update your clients as appropriate. After the change to your tenant any client using Basic Authentication for an affected protocol will be unable to connect and will receive an HTTP 401 error: bad username or password error.

If you don’t have any Basic Authentication sign-ins then there is nothing you need to do.

Microsoft does recognize you may not be ready to turn off Basic Authentication and there is a Self-Service Re-Enablement process outlined. Note: that this is a one time re-enablement of Basic Authentication which will last until the end of December 2022 only and during the first few weeks of 2023 any re-enabled protocols will be disabled again permanently.

For more information check out the following Deprecation of Basic authentication in Exchange Online in Microsoft Docs.

#Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline #BasicAuthentication #ModernAuthentication #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

‘Replace’ Policy Action in Safe Attachments Retiring – Microsoft Defender for Office 365

If you’re like me you enjoy the rich set of features included in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 including the Safe Links and Safe Attachments capabilities. Microsoft has announced a change to retire the ‘replace’ action in Safe Attachment policies and that is today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

Safe Attachments in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides an additional layer of protection for email attachments that have already been scanned by anti-malware protection in Exchange Online Protection (EOP). Specifically, Safe Attachments uses a virtual environment to check attachments in email messages before they’re delivered thru a process know as detonation.

Safe Attachments protection is controlled by Safe Attachment policies configured in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. In Safe Attachment policies one of the actions which can be applied to a message is the ‘Replace’ action which delivers only the message body to the recipient without the original attachments when it has been found to contain malware.

Beginning in September 2022 the ‘Replace’ action will be retired and no longer available for use in Safe Attachment policies. The first phase of the retirement will automatically apply the ‘Block’ action, which will quarantine the email, to any existing policies with the ‘Replace’ action specified.

The second phase of the retirement targeted to complete by late-October 2022 will remove the ‘Replace’ action altogether from the Microsoft Defender portal and any existing policies with it will be changed to use the ‘Block’ action.

There will not be a similar action to ‘Replace’ post retirement and we recommend that you review and update all applicable Safe Attachments policies in your tenant beforehand.

For more information on Safe Attachment policy settings in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 please see Safe Attachments – Office 365 | Microsoft Docs

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftDefenderforOffice365 #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Sept 2, 2022 – New Podcast Available

In this episode Ryan McKay and Andrew Lowes look at new Microsoft Entra portal for modern identity and access solutions.

URLs shown in today’s video podcast include:

Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Docs
Microsoft Entra – Secure Identities and Access | Microsoft Security
Microsoft Entra Datasheet
Microsoft Entra Admin Center

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftEntra #MicrosoftIdentityandAccess #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Aug 19, 2022 – New Podcast Available

In this episode Ryan McKay and Andrew Lowes discuss the retirement of Azure Active Directory Connect V1 and steps to transition to V2 of Azure Active Directory connect.

URLs shown in today’s video podcast include:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/action-required-upgrade-to-the-latest-version-of-azure-ad-connect-before-31-august-2022/

Azure AD Connect: Version release history

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #AzureActiveDirectory #AzureADConnect #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Aug 5, 2022 – New Podcast Available

In this episode Ryan McKay and Andrew Lowes of @AzureTracks talk about the retiring of the “Exchange Online PowerShell module with MFA” and what how that changes how as admins you will securely connect to and manage Exchange Online via PowerShell and the new Exchange Online PowerShell V2 module.

URLs shown in today’s video podcast include:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/exchange/exchange-online-powershell-v2?view=exchange-ps

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/exchange/exchange-online-powershell-v2?view=exchange-ps#install-and-maintain-the-exo-v2-module

https://youtu.be/71ZKUvyr-bI

Microsoft #Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #AzureTracks #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix