Microsoft started blocking a mailbox link apps used since 2007. No exceptions from April.
Microsoft started switching off Exchange Web Services in Exchange Online, its cloud email service, on 1 October, The Register reported.
Since Exchange Server 2007, other software has used it to read mailboxes, calendars and contacts.
Where administrators never set the option, Microsoft now sets it to blocked. Administrators can switch it back on and approve named apps, but only until 1 April 2027, when Microsoft turns it off for good. "There will be no exceptions," Microsoft said.
Microsoft says the service "no longer aligns with today's security, scale, or reliability requirements" and points customers to Microsoft Graph, its newer interface for the same data. The Register noted that Graph still has some gaps.
Microsoft stopped adding features in 2018 and announced the retirement in 2023. It has not said how many organisations still depend on the service. Markus Müller of Boomi, which sells integration software, told The Register that many companies lack a complete list of what depends on it. The Register expects forgotten links between systems to show up first as support tickets.
Does your company know every system that still reads its mailboxes this way?
Sources
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