How To Navigate Gmail Changes Affecting Scan To Email Functionality

Google has announced that as of May 30th, 2022, it will disable control over Less Secure Apps on free Gmail accounts. If your organization uses free Gmail accounts, some of the apps you're using in connection with your email may no longer work. This change is part of a step-by-step shift to gradually increase Gmail security while minimizing disruptions to end-users.

What Are Less Secure Apps?

A Less Secure App (LSA) only requires a username and password to connect to your Google account, and does not use more modern security methods. Unfortunately, as cybercrime increased 500% during the pandemic, LSAs put your account, as well as all of its data, at significant risk.

How Will This Gmail Change Impact Your Organization?

If you have a free Gmail account and use a Scan to Email app on a Multi-Function Printer (MFP), you'll notice that this function will no longer be available. Other examples of LSAs include Native mail, contacts and calendar sync apps on older versions of iOS and OSX, and some older versions of Microsoft Outlook.

But there is good news: many popular apps do support modern security standards, like Windows Mail, Office 365, Outlook for Mac, Instagram, PayPal, Amazon, Facebook, and Basecamp.

Disadvantages of Using Free Gmail Accounts

Even if your organization is able to find a work-around for each and every LSA that will no longer function, it might be a better use of time to consider alternatives to free Gmail accounts. These accounts present a potential security and privacy risk to organizations for the following reasons:

You don't have ownership of your communications or data
You can't access dedicated email support
Gmail terms and service are subject to change at any time, including how data privacy and security are handled
You do not have complete control over transmission security, including end-to-end encryption
Usernames and passwords are not centrally managed and could be misused by former employees, contractors, and other insider threats

Marco's Recommendations

Moving forward, Marco will only support enterprise email accounts in customer environments. We will not be recommending free email (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) accounts for our clients because of the many disadvantages outlined above. We understand that switching email providers can be daunting, and many businesses may wish to continue using their free account at this time. For additional information and guides on how to continue using scan to email functionality, please see links below.

How To Get Help

Marco's experts are standing by to help you reconfigure your MFP to restore this functionality using a customer-provided business email account. Depending on your service agreement with Marco, this service may be included in your plan or may incur time and material charges.

There are three ways to schedule your service:

Through our customer portal
Through our toll-free number: 1-800-847-3098, option 1, option 1
By emailing service@marconet.com

For faster service, please have the following information ready:

Name of business email host/provider
SMTP Host Name or Relay
Associated Port Number and Encryption Requirements
An email account and login credentials (which will remain private)

The Bottom Line

We understand that businesses have their own schedules and their own challenges, and when you are not in control of your email accounts, your vital business communications must constantly adjust to the schedules and needs of your provider. It's not ideal, and ultimately, we believe your business could be better served by a different provider. Speak to one of our experts to get a customized recommendation.