Up to 25% of user still use an outdated and less secure protocol as a primary method to log in to the email (via use IMAP, POP3 or SMTP). In this guide we will show you how to change the protocol in the common mail clients.
Support of this insecure protocol was ended in 24.2.2019. After this date it will be necessary to change the e-mail client settings to support the method of “normal” password.
The change affects all e-mail clients that allow to set authentication method with “encrypted password”. In most cases it regards Mozilla Thunderbird, and native iOS mail client on iPhone.
Your e-mail is secure only as much as many connections to it are secure – with encrypted port with signed certificate. There is no security risk or less secure protection.
Change of authentication method
With this change there is no loss of e-mails, contacts or other data. You can prepare for it in advance – by checking server settings on your e-mail client, or you can leave it for the moment when your e-mail client reminds you.
Mozilla Thunderbird
After the protocol is disabled on the server side a following warning will appear in your client either as a notification or pop-up window.
As the Thunderbird itself recommends it is necessary to make the proper changes in the authentication method settings. You can make this change by pressing Alt that activates top menu bar and then select Tools » Account settings
Then go to Server settings and look for category Security settings » Authentication method.
Change the method from original value of “Encrypted password” to new value normal password. Then confirm by selecting OK. By this change we have modified the settings of IMAP or POP3. After you restart the Thundebird the e-mail client should be correctly connected to the server.
For SMTP server select in the settings Outgoing server (SMTP) and select “Edit” option.
Then again we will switch to the value of “Normal password” in the Authentication method field.
Confirm changes by selecting OK and then restart the application. The change of the SMTP server will take effect after sending first message from the client.
iOS Mail
After the protocol is disabled on the server side a following warning will appear in your client either as a notification or pop-up window.
Simply select the option Repair that will direct you to the settings of the outgoing server of your e-mail account. Here select Authentication.
And select a Normal password from the options.
After the changes are saved iPhone should automatically load the new settings and sending e-mails will be working again.
In a case there are problem with the settings, make sure that the encryption is set to SSL (with port 465) or TLS (with a port 587).