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Thunderbird compatibility with multi factor authentification

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by christ1

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My campus is moving quickly to multi-factor authentication with Okta, and our IT Dept has indicated the following:

"NOTE: Some legacy mail applications are not compatible with multifactor authentication and may stop working when MFA is enabled. Common examples include Mail on Mac OS X, Thunderbird, old versions of Outlook, and the built-in mail app on some Android devices. The recommended solution is to use the latest version of Outlook available for your system, or use a web interface."

Does MFA mean that I will need to abandon Thunderbird, or is there some way for there to be Thunderbird-MFA compatibility?

My campus is moving quickly to multi-factor authentication with Okta, and our IT Dept has indicated the following: "NOTE: Some legacy mail applications are not compatible with multifactor authentication and may stop working when MFA is enabled. Common examples include Mail on Mac OS X, Thunderbird, old versions of Outlook, and the built-in mail app on some Android devices. The recommended solution is to use the latest version of Outlook available for your system, or use a web interface." Does MFA mean that I will need to abandon Thunderbird, or is there some way for there to be Thunderbird-MFA compatibility?

All Replies (3)

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You'd need to ask this question to your IT folks. Other email providers use application specific passwords for legacy mail applications not compatible with 2FA.

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Not understanding your reply. Can you please provide more details?

We are using MS Office 365 as our email provider.

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Please check with your IT folks.