If you’re one of the 400 million people worldwide who use Outlook to check your emails, you’ll be seeing a change in your login screen.
Microsoft has announced a “modern authentication logon experience”.
What this means, in simple language, is that when you open Outlook, instead of seeing this:
you’ll now see this:
The changes will affect Outlook for Windows 2016 and later versions. The rollout is due to begin in early July 2019 and be completed by the end of August 2019.
The changes will take place automatically, and there’s nothing you need to do. The only difference to you, the end user, is the way it looks.
The reason for the change is all about security:
Microsoft says “We’re constantly improving the security of Office 365 products and services. Modern Authentication and Conditional Access are two of the best ways of ensuring that your clients can take advantage of authentication features like multi-factor authentication (MFA), third-party SAML identity providers, and are implementing automated access control decisions for accessing your cloud apps based on conditions”.
So how does the new login prompt improve security?
Switching to Modern Authentication (even if it’s used just for username and password) is more secure than using Basic Auth. Modern Authentication is not subject to credential capture and re-use, credentials are not stored on the client device, it ensures users re-authenticate when something about their connection or state changes, and it makes adding MFA simple.
So what now?
So, now you know all about it, all you have to do is carry on as usual. When the new login prompt appears, you won’t be surprised; you’ll know why it’s appeared. You can simply continue your work, safe in the knowledge that your email data is now that little bit more secure…
If you have any further questions about this, or any other aspect of working on your computer, give us a call in the datamills office on 0114 287 0510.