<p>Microsoft on Wednesday suggested that newer versions of Exchange and Exchange Online are now so secure that it's less necessary to check for unauthorized users.</p><p>Newer Exchange messaging solutions are now built with more secure code. Consequently, routing traffic to carry out user preauthentications isn't a necessity anymore. That view was articulated by Greg Taylor, principal program manager lead for the Exchange customer adoption team at Microsoft, in a blog post.</p><p>Along those lines, Taylor explained why Microsoft decided to stop selling its Threat Management Gateway (TMG) solution product, which provides for such preauthentication support when used with Exchange. Microsoft announced it would stop selling TMG 2010 in December as part of a series of Forefront product changes. Essentially, TMG isn't needed anymore to protect Exchange networks these days because it just gets in the way and adds unnecessary network complexity, without adding much security protection, Taylor argued.</p><p>TMG was needed back in the days when Exchange ran on Windows 2000, according to Taylor. However, Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing security efforts, along with its Secure Windows Initiative and the imposition of its security development lifecycle coding approach have made such preauthentication security approaches optional, at best, to protect Exchange, he explained.</p><p><a href="http://redmondmag.com/articles/2013/07/17/exchange-preauthentication.aspx">Keep reading...</a></p>