Most Stanford email accounts are currently accessible without the protection of two-factor authentication, leaving them highly vulnerable to compromise. Over the next several months, University IT (UIT) will enforce the use of modern authentication across all Office 365 accounts, which requires two-factor authentication during the initial setup for each email client.
Fortunately, most email accounts at Stanford are already using modern authentication. For these, the only remaining step is for UIT to configure the account to disallow legacy (i.e. username and password) logins, preventing unauthorized access to your email. This change is made behind the scenes, with no action needed on your part.
What to do if you encounter a problem accessing your email
We do not anticipate this enhancement will impact your ability to access your Stanford email. However, if you are unable to access it after this change is made, you have multiple options for checking email until the problem is resolved:
- Use the webmail interface at https://webmail.stanford.edu
- Use the Outlook client/app (if not already installed, the Outlook app is available via the Stanford app catalog on your mobile device)
If you have questions about this change, please submit a Help request.
Why are we doing this?
Email is one of the few services at Stanford not yet fully protected by two-factor authentication. As part of the Healthy Devices @Stanford initiatives, we are closing this gap by migrating to modern email authentication.
What is modern email authentication?
Modern email authentication adds two-factor protection to your email account, rather than username and password alone. You will only be prompted for two-factor once when setting up your email account on each device. Subsequent email logins will be seamless, yet still benefit from the protection of two-factor authentication.
More information and resources
- Learn more about the modern email authentication project.
- Learn more about Stanford’s two-factor (aka two-step) authentication.
- Review the frequently asked questions about modern email authentication.
- Check the known issues with modern email authentication.
