Announcing: Microsoft's end of support for Basic Authentication access and how this impacts Microsoft’s accounts integrations in Sell

Announced on	Removal on
September 20, 2019	October 1, 2022

To improve security across their product APIs, Microsoft announced on September 20, 2019 that it planned to stop support for basic authentication (transmission of the username and password combination) on all Microsoft APIs. The deprecation of basic authentication will also prevent the use of app passwords with apps that don't support two-step verification.

Microsoft has already enabled OAuth 2.0 (the industry-standard protocol for authorization) on all of their APIs. 

This announcement answers the following questions:

• When will Microsoft stop support for basic authentication?
• How is Zendesk Sell affected?
• What do Zendesk Sell customers need to do?
• Where can I find more information?

When will Microsoft stop support for Basic Authentication?

Microsoft begins ceasing support for basic authentication October 1, 2022. You can no longer use basic authentication in Exchange Online for any of the following:

• Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
• POP
• IMAP
• Remote PowerShell
• Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• Offline Address Book (OAB)
• Outlook for Windows and Mac
• SMTP AUTH will also be disabled on all accounts that are not using it.

For more information, see the Microsoft technical support documentation.

How is Zendesk Sell affected?

The following three integrations in Sell that currently use basic authentication are impacted by this change.

• Microsoft 365 email integration
  How is my email integration affected?
  We will ask about the re-authorize of the Microsoft account. If your account uses basic authentication, you’ll see a dedicated button in your Communication Center that will ask you to re-authorize your existing integration from basic to modern authentication.
  
• Microsoft 365 calendar integration
  How is my calendar integration affected?
  As of August 31, 2022, Zendesk Sell no longer supports basic authentication for the Microsoft 365 calendar.
  
• Microsoft 365 contacts integration
  How is my contact integration affected?
  As of August 31, 2022, Zendesk Sell no longer supports the integration of Microsoft 365 contacts into Zendesk Sell. We recommend using Zapier to integrate Sell and Microsoft 365. To learn more about Zapier, and to find the most popular Zap templates for Zendesk Sell and Microsoft 365, see Using Zapier with Sell.

What do Zendesk Sell customers need to do?

If you have a Zendesk Sell account with any of the Microsoft 365 integrations enabled, each account user needs to reauthorize from basic authentication to modern authentication using their own Microsoft account.
If your email is still connected to Sell by Microsoft basic OAuth, you must change the model of authorization from basic OAuth to modern authentication.

Note: If your account is affected you’ll see the dedicated button to reauthorize your account in your Communication Center.

Where can I find more information?

For more information about Microsoft’s announcement, OAuth, basic and modern authentication, see:

• End of support for Basic Authentication access to Exchange Online API’s for Office 365 customers
• Basic Authentication and Exchange Online – April 2020 Update
• OAuth 2.0 protocol
• Contacting Zendesk customer support
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