Basic Authentication to be disabled for Microsoft 365 mailboxes – July 15

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Update (June 28, 9:45 a.m.): 

What is happening? Basic Authentication, a less secure authentication method, will be disabled for Microsoft 365 mailboxes.  

Why is this happening?  

  • Basic Authentication is being removed by Microsoft.  

  • The change from Basic Authentication to Modern Authentication will require Microsoft 365 mailboxes to use two-factor authentication (2FA), which will help improve the security of the mailboxes and prevent unauthorized access. 

When is this happening? Thursday, July 15.  

What is the impact? This process may take up to 24 hours to take effect. Mailboxes will continue to be available. 

What do I need to do? 

Questions or concerns? Please submit to the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca


Update (May 25, 8:50 a.m.): This work is being rescheduled for a later date; more details will be provided once available.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.


What is happening? Basic Authentication will be disabled for Office 365 mailboxes. 

Why is this happening? Basic Authentication is being deprecated by Microsoft. Disabling basic authentication will stop O365 mailboxes from bypassing multi-factor authentication, which will prevent unauthorized logins to mailboxes.

When is this happening? Basic Authentication for Office 365 mailboxes will be disabled on Tuesday, May 25. Please note the disabling process will take approximately one hour to run and the change can take up to 24 hours to take effect.

What is the impact? Some users may experience issues with accessing mailbox features after the change is made on the above date. Most issues can be resolved by removing and re-adding your mail account to the mail client. If you experience persisting issues, please submit a ticket to rt@uwaterloo.ca.

Questions or concerns? Please submit to the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.