Neowin News Feed for: Authentication

Windows Server gets DNS over HTTPS (DoH) support

Usama Jawad — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 08:44:01 +0000

After months in preview, Microsoft's DNS over HTTPS feature is now production-ready, promising stronger protection without major network changes. Read more...

Microsoft is making a major change to Entra ID authentication

Usama Jawad — Sat, 30 May 2026 22:12:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced a significant Entra ID security update that could affect password reset access for some users and IT admins. Read more...

Say goodbye to passwords as UK cyber experts crown passkeys the new security king

Paul Hill — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 04:24:01 +0000

The era of forgetting passwords is finally over as the UK's top cyber authority just officially endorsed passkeys as the ultimate defense. Here is how this change affects you. Read more...

Windows Kerberos hardening may cause authentication issues for some PCs next month

Usama Jawad — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:24:01 +0000

Microsoft has warned about a Windows authentication change next month, and if admins don't act in time, logins in some environments could suddenly start failing. Read more...

Microsoft's new Entra ID feature fixes a huge MFA limitation

Usama Jawad — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:42:01 +0000

Microsoft just made a long-awaited Entra ID change that could reshape how enterprises handle authentication moving forward. Read more...

Microsoft blocks a way for user sign-in on Windows 11 25H2 24H2, and for good reason

Sayan Sen — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:54:01 +0000

Microsoft has recently blocked a convenient way to sign-in or authenticate on all Windows 11 versions as well as on 10. The company has explained why. Read more...

Microsoft is making Windows more secure, here is how IT admins need to prepare

Usama Jawad — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:26:01 +0000

Microsoft is disabling a legacy component in Windows, calling it a "major evolution in Windows authentication", but IT admins need to make sure that it doesn't break their infrastructure. Read more...

WebView2 is the future of an important Windows 11 component

Usama Jawad — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:40:01 +0000

Microsoft has highlighted the importance of migrating to WebView2 for a particular Windows 11 component, noting it is an investment in a secure future. Read more...

Microsoft quietly makes a requirement mandatory for Windows 11 25H2 24H2 installations

Sayan Sen — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 23:14:01 +0000

Microsoft released Windows 11 25H2 at the end of last month, and with the new feature update, the company has made a requirement mandatory for OS installations. Read more...

Microsoft is ending support for a registry key in Windows DCs next month

Usama Jawad — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:34:01 +0000

Microsoft is ending support for a registry key that served as a workaround for certificate-based authentication in Windows Domain Controllers. Read more...

Microsoft shares details on a new Teams mandatory security requirement update

Sayan Sen — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 08:48:01 +0000

A Microsoft Teams feature is getting a mandatory security update very soon. Microsoft shares details about how to proceed. Read more...

The Microsoft sign-in experience is getting dark mode and a new look

Usama Jawad — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:02:01 +0000

Microsoft customers will be treated to visual updates in their sign-in experience over the next couple of months. Read more...

Microsoft has an update on Exchange Online Basic Auth removal for Office 365

Sayan Sen — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 09:46:01 +0000

Microsoft has an update for Office 365/Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Basic Auth retirement in the case of SMTP. Read more...

Microsoft confirms NTLM is dead beyond Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025

Sayan Sen — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 08:42:02 +0000

Microsoft said last year that it wants to improve authentication security by eventually killing off NTLM sometime in the future. Today, the company has announced the deprecation of the feature. Read more...

Microsoft: KB5036909 Windows Server update causing NTLM traffic, LSASS crash issues on DCs

Sayan Sen — Thu, 02 May 2024 06:58:01 +0000

Microsoft confirmed yesterday that a VPN bug is affecting Windows 10 and 11, as well as Servers. Alongside that, the company has also confirmed that Server systems are also having NTLM traffic spikes. Read more...

Google says its Passkeys have been used more than a billion times in less than a year

Aditya Tiwari — Thu, 02 May 2024 20:00:01 +0000

Google announced that its Passkeys authentication tech has been used over one billion times in less than a year. Passkeys eliminate the need to use complex passwords and are about 50% faster. Read more...

WhatsApp announces support for passkeys on iOS

Karthik Mudaliar — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:20:02 +0000

WhatsApp is finally bringing support for passkeys on its iOS app, the company announced on X. Passkeys allow for password-less and secure authentication using methods like Face ID and Touch ID. Read more...

LinkedIn says 16 more countries are getting its free ID verification feature

Paul Hill — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 02:18:01 +0000

Microsoft's LinkedIn is expanding identification verification to 16 more countries as it tries to reach its 2025 goal of getting 100 million people verified. Verification helps build trust. Read more...

Windows 11 Pro will soon disable insecure SMB guest authentication by default

Usama Jawad — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 21:44:02 +0000

Microsoft has made an important change in recent Windows 11 Pro Insider Preview builds by disabling SMB guest authentication fallbacks by default. This has been done to improve the security of the OS. Read more...

Microsoft is making significant improvements to SMB authentication in Windows 11

Usama Jawad — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 10:12:01 +0000

Microsoft has enabled a preview feature by default in the latest Windows 11 Dev Channel build 25206. It is related to improving the security of SMB NTLM authentication and reducing attack surfaces. Read more...

Microsoft reveals new features added to Windows Autopatch, including app-only authentication

Usama Jawad — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 07:46:04 +0000

Microsoft has detailed some new capabilities that have been added to its Windows Autopatch service for enterprise customers recently. The headlining feature is application-based authentication. Read more...

Microsoft will disable Basic Auth for Exchange Online next month... but not really

Usama Jawad — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 16:16:49 +0000

Microsoft has once again informed customers that it is deprecating Basic Auth for many Exchange Online protocols starting from next month. However, tenants will be able to bypass it temporarily. Read more...

Google warns of configuration change for interop between Calendar and Exchange Online

Usama Jawad — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 07:08:01 +0000

Google Workspace customers integrating Google Calendar and Exchange Online have been urged to make a configuration change before Microsoft disables an old authentication mechanism in October. Read more...

Microsoft issues OOB updates to fix domain controller auth failure after Patch Tuesday

Sayan Sen — Fri, 20 May 2022 05:18:01 +0000

Microsoft has released multiple OOB updates which fix an issue that was introduced with the latest May Patch Tuesday. The bug was leading to auth failures on domain controlled servers and clients. Read more...

CISA: Don't install Windows Patch Tuesday updates for May on Domain Controllers

Usama Jawad — Tue, 17 May 2022 07:06:01 +0000

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is no longer recommending the installation of May Patch Tuesday updates on Domain Controllers because of authentication issues. Read more...

PSA: Microsoft is deprecating Basic Auth in Exchange Online in October

Usama Jawad — Wed, 04 May 2022 10:48:01 +0000

Microsoft has reminded organizations that it is deprecating Basic Auth for most protocols in Exchange Online in October 2022. The disabling process will be randomized so it's best to be prepared. Read more...

Microsoft: Latest Windows Server build 25075 makes brute-force hacks super challenging

Sayan Sen — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 18:30:02 +0000

Microsoft has released a new Windows Server preview build 25075 today to Insiders. The new build brings an SMB NTLM authentication limiting feature that makes brute-force exploits very challenging. Read more...

Edge Dev for Android finally enables authentication for auto-filling passwords

Paul Hill — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 10:34:01 +0000

Microsoft has enabled the authentication for autofill toggle on Edge Dev for Android, bringing it a step closer to being made available for all people who choose to run Microsoft Edge on Android. Read more...

Microsoft downplays Azure AD design flaw enabling single-factor brute-force attacks [Update]

Usama Jawad — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 11:10:02 +0000

A security team has issued an advisory about an apparent design flaw which allows single-factor brute-force attack on Azure Active Directory. However, Microsoft says that this is by design. Read more...

You no longer need a password to sign in to your Microsoft account

Usama Jawad — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:00:02 +0000

Microsoft has formally announced the death of passwords, at least on its services. Starting today, you can completely remove a password from your Microsoft account and use alternate methods instead. Read more...

Instagram now asks for authentication before you can delete photos permanently

Jay Bonggolto — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 19:48:02 +0000

Instagram has rolled out a new feature that allows you to restore recently deleted photos and videos or permanently remove content from your account, provided you verify your identity first. Read more...

Microsoft announces general availability of email OTP for businesses

Usama Jawad — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 14:46:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced the general availability of email OTP for better B2B collaboration. Guest users will be allowed to access resources without Azure AD, a Microsoft account, or Google federation. Read more...

Office 365 users will soon be able to initiate sign-in via Outlook.com

Boyd Chan — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 09:58:01 +0000

While users of Office 365 for business and education have had to use the service-specific portal to sign in, they will soon be able to kick off the authentication process via Outlook.com instead. Read more...

Microsoft unites Windows Hello and FIDO2 Security Keys to offer secure authentication

Hamza Jawad — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 19:10:01 +0000

Microsoft has collaborated with the FIDO Alliance to offer a new Windows Hello FIDO2 Security Key feature. Currently, this feature is in limited preview with no timeline for a wider rollout available. Read more...

Windows Hello authentication reportedly quicker in Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update

Usama Jawad — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:00:01 +0000

According to a new report, Microsoft may be looking to make Windows Hello authentication faster on Windows 10 Mobile devices, by removing a rather useless "winking" animation in the Creators Update. Read more...

Windows 8.1 will focus on biometrics for authentication [Update]

Christopher White — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 03:58:53 +0000

As TechEd continues, we are learning more and more about what to expect in the upcoming version of Windows 8. Today, Microsoft went into details discussing their plans for biometrics. Read more...

Leak shows two-factor authentication is coming to Microsoft Accounts

Tim Schiesser — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:30:21 +0000

A few screenshots of Microsoft Account settings have leaked that indicate the presence of two-step authentication, while an Authenticator app is already available in the Windows Phone Store Read more...

Barclays banks on two-factor authentication

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:06:15 +0000

Barclays is to use two-factor authentication for the first time in an effort to prevent fraudsters plundering bank accounts. The bank's PINsentry devices will be sent free to half a million customers later this year... Read more...

Yahoo Mail Adds DomainKeys Authentication

Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:55:54 +0000

Yahoo Inc. is putting its e-mail authentication method into action. On Monday, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company will begin to support its DomainKeys cryptographic approach for Yahoo Mail, one of the largest Web-based e-mail services in... Read more...

VeriSign strikes Microsoft authentication deal

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:23:42 +0000

Security and billing applications maker VeriSign said Wednesday that it established a new partnership with Microsoft to build authentication services based on the software giant's Windows Server 2003 product line. VeriSign says... Read more...