Disabling legacy authentication for all U of T email users

Date: August 31, 2022
To: InfoTech Listserv, EITU
From: Information Security Operations and Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: Disabling legacy authentication for all U of T email users

 

Dear colleagues,

As part of an ongoing effort to improve data security in Exchange Online, Microsoft has announced it will begin to permanently disable legacy authentication for all Microsoft 365 tenants on October 1, 2022.
In preparation for this significant update, Information Technology Services (ITS) has been disabling legacy authentication for UTmail+ in partnership with divisions and will complete the remaining group by September 30, 2022. After this date, all University email users will need to use mobile and desktop email clients that support modern authentication.
ITS will start disabling legacy authentication in batches for remaining faculty and staff beginning September 15.

Next steps

  • Please carefully review the information below for more details on this upcoming change so that your team can be prepared. 
  • ITS will communicate with remaining impacted staff and faculty regarding this change. 

For questions, please contact Haniyeh Yousofpourfard (haniyeh.yousofpourfard@utoronto.ca).

Thank you,

Deyves Fonseca Associate Director Information Security OperationsPamela Harris Associate Director Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration****************************  How will this change impact the University’s end users?

This change will only impact University community members who are currently connecting to UTmail+ via email clients that still use legacy authentication. Once the changes are applied, mobile and desktop email clients that use legacy authentication to connect to UTmail+ may stop working.

What should impacted users do if their email client stops working after the change is implemented?

Impacted users should update or upgrade to an email client that uses modern authentication as soon as possible. Users can also continue to access U of T email via mail.utoronto.ca. Instructions are provided in the communication distributed to IT administrators via email.

How will ITS support divisions and impacted users throughout this change?

ITS has identified individual email users who are connecting to UTmail+ with legacy authentication. ITS is collaborating with our University partners to notify impacted staff, students, faculty and alumni of this change:

  • ITS will send communications to impacted staff and faculty beginning on September 1.
  • Communications with students is being managed by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students. 
  • Communications with alumni is being managed separately in conjunction with University Advancement. 
  • Information Security will notify and follow up with impacted service account owners.