Microsoft Exchange Online: Access Soon No Longer Possible Via Basic Auth – DPF Mail Service Affected

Authentication is an important component in many Exchange Web Services (EWS) applications. Exchange Online and Exchange Online Office 365 support standard Web authentication protocols to ensure the security of communications between your application and the Exchange server. Basic Authentication provided a basic level of security for the client application but will soon be discontinued by Microsoft. The Mail Service of the Digital Process Factory (DPF) from SEAL Systems is affected by this change.

Standard Authentication (Basic Auth) No Longer Supported by Microsoft:

In 2019 Microsoft wrote: « on October 13th, 2020 we will stop supporting Basic Authentication for Exchange Web Services (EWS) to access Exchange Online. »

In April 2020, Microsoft made an announcement that this may be delayed and that it can be postponed: « In response to the COVID-19 crisis and knowing that priorities have changed for many of our customers we have decided to postpone disabling Basic Authentication in Exchange Online for those tenants still actively using it until the second half of 2021. » (…) « And of course you can start blocking legacy authentication. »

(Source: techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/basic-authentication-and-exchange-online-april-2020-update/ba-p/1275508)

SEAL Systems has prepared for this and offers an updated version of the DPF Mail Service, where the Office 365 email accounts are authenticated to Microsoft Azure AD (Active Directory) via OAuth. The administrator of the The administrator of the customer’s Office online organization has to grant the right to read the emails in the Microsoft Azure Portal of the SEAL application.

The DPF Mail Service – Conversion, Archiving, and Printing of Files by Email:

The DPF Mail Service from SEAL Systems offers companies the possibility to create DPF jobs from structured emails (e.g., from suppliers or customers) to handle customer-specific processes. For example, the DPF Mail Service can initiate file conversions, archive emails automatically in SAP, or generate print jobs – a real added value for the daily communication via email!

More information about the DPF Mail Service can be found here:

www.sealsystems.com/blog-mailprocessing-dpf/