Microsoft Postpones Remote PowerShell Deprecation in Exchange Online

Cloud Computing

Last year, Microsoft announced its plans to deprecate Remote PowerShell (RPS) in Exchange Online in June 2023. Now, the company has decided to delay the deprecation of the RPS protocol until October this year.

Remote PowerShell is a feature that allows IT admins to connect to their Exchange Online through PowerShell commands. It lets administrators perform various tasks, including managing distribution groups, mailboxes, public folders, and contacts. Remote PowerShell depends on Basic Authentication which makes it vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Microsoft is killing off the Remote PowerShell connections for all existing Exchange Online customers in May this year. However, the company will still let IT admins re-enable RPS in these tenants until September. Microsoft says that all new tenants created on April 1 will also be able to re-enable the protocol until June 2023. This capability will not be available for new subscribers coming on board after July 1.

Microsoft releases the RPS self-service tool for Exchange Online

Microsoft has made this decision based on the initial feedback received from organizations. It should give customers sufficient time to migrate to the REST-based PowerShell v3 module that launched in September 2022. The latest v3 module is more secure because it supports certificate-based authentication.

“We have released a self-service tool in the Microsoft 365 admin center and the Exchange admin center that admins can use to request an extension or re-enablement of RPS. We are adding this tool to help you minimize disruptions as you transition away from using RPS. We want you to use the tool only if you really need to use RPS, and not just because you think you might need to,” the Exchange team explained.

Microsoft Postpones Remote PowerShell Deprecation in Exchange Online

Keep in mind that Microsoft will remove the option to re-enable RPS connections in September. This means Remote PowerShell for Exchange Online will get completely blocked for all customers in October 2023. Microsoft recommends IT Pros to plan migrations before the final cut-off date to protect their end users against cyberattacks.