14 DAY TRIAL // Customers who are using Client Access Rules, also known as CARs, in Exchange Online are being warned by Microsoft that the support for this feature is being removed.
The whole thing will happen in September 2023, the software giant says, as the company no longer sees any reason in supporting CARs given the introduction of more advanced capabilities, such as Continuous Access Evaluation.
Microsoft says the client access rules will be disabled for non-using tenants in October this year, while in the remaining time until September 2023, the company says it will work with customers to help migrate the remaining tenants to CAR.
“Client Access Rules (CARs) help to control access to the Exchange Online organization. Now with new features, like Continuous Access Evaluation (CAE) that allows Azure Active Directory applications to subscribe to critical events, that can then be evaluated and enforced in near real time; you can have better control while also adding resiliency to your organization,” Microsoft explains in today’s announcement.
“Today, we are announcing the retirement of CARs in Exchange Online, to be fully deprecated by September 2023. We will send Message Center posts to tenants using client access rules to start the planning process to migrate their rules.”
Microsoft to help customers migrate to CAE
Needless to say, customers who aren’t using CARs wouldn’t be affected, with Microsoft explaining that the rules would be disabled anyway next month without any input required on their side.
“If you do not currently use CARs, cmdlets will be disabled for your tenant after October 2022. If you currently have CARs configured in your tenant you will be able to keep using them until September 2023, which provides you with time to migrate other, more resilient options,” Microsoft says, explaining that further information will be provided in Message Center posts for customers.