Security News > 2023 > March > Microsoft uses carrot and stick with Exchange Online admins

Some Exchange Online users who have the RPS feature turned off by Microsoft can now have it re-enabled - at least until September when the tool is retired.

Microsoft is moving all of its Exchange Online tenants from the legacy - and increasingly insecure - Remote PowerShell Protocol to the PowerShell v3 module.

"Customers who need more time to make the switch can re-enable RPS and use it for a little longer," the Exchange Online Team wrote in a blog post, pointing to a self-service tool in the Microsoft 365 and Exchange admin centers to use when requesting an extension or a re-enablement.

The retirement of RPS is among a number of steps Microsoft is taking to harden Exchange Online against cyber threats.

Giving users extra time with RPS comes during a week of security news from the company's inaugural Microsoft Secure event and a week after it further hardened Exchange Online by blocking emails from unsupported and unpatched Exchange servers.

Microsoft is adding a mail flow report to the Exchange admin center that works with the Exchange Server Health Checker tool, which collects a range of information, including which servers are unsupported or unpatched.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/03/30/microsoft_hardening_exchange_online/