How to Disable Plaintext Authentication for E-mail

To enhance the security of your email communication, it’s essential to disable plaintext authentication. Let’s walk through the steps for both Thunderbird and Outlook:

Thunderbird: Setting Up a New Account

1. Open Thunderbird.
2. In the left sidebar, click Local Folders.
3. When the right panel loads, under Create A New Account, click Email. This will bring up the Mail Account Setup screen.
4. Enter your name, email address, and password in the appropriate fields and click Continue.
5. Thunderbird will automatically detect the following recommended settings:
   • Incoming: IMAP, server hostname*, STARTTLS
   • Outgoing: SMTP, server hostname*, STARTTLS
   • Username: Your full email address
   • Server hostname would be something like “dime192.dizinc.com.”
6. Click Done.
7. If you get the Add Security Exception prompt, click Confirm Security Exception.

Thunderbird: Modifying an Existing Account

1. Open Thunderbird.
2. In the left sidebar, click the top-level folder for the account you want to modify.
3. In the right panel, click View settings for this account.
4. When the Account Settings window opens, in the left pane, click Server Settings under the account you are modifying.
5. If your Server Type is IMAP, make sure the port is 993. If it’s POP3, ensure the port is 995.
6. Change Connection Security to SSL/TLS, if it’s not already set.
7. To update the Outgoing Mail Server, click Outgoing Server (SMTP) in the left pane.
8. Select the server in question from the list of SMTP servers and click Edit.
9. Ensure the port is 465.
10. Set the Connection security to SSL/TLS.
11. Click OK to close the SMTP Server window.
12. Click OK to close the Account Settings window.

Outlook: Adding a New E-mail Account

1. Open Outlook.
2. Click the File tab at the top.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. On the Account Settings screen, click New.
5. Enter your name, email address, and password in the appropriate fields and click Next.
6. Outlook will auto-discover the settings. If prompted with a security alert, click Yes to proceed.

Remember, these adjustments will enhance the security of your email communication by disabling plaintext authentication