An Explosion of Audit Events for Legacy SharePoint Online Authentication

IDCRL events in audit log.

Microsoft phased out the legacy IDCRL authentication mechanism from SharePoint Online on May 1, 2026. Sounds good, until you notice the explosion of IDCRLBlockedDueToSoftEnforcement events created by SharePoint Online in the unified audit log. The events are associated with Microsoft Office apps like Word, which SharePoint appears to think are still using IDCRL. For whatever reason, the audit log is now cluttered with unwanted events generated by the interaction between SharePoint and Office.

SharePoint Online PowerShell Module Gets Modern Authentication

SharePoint Online PowerShell Module Upgraded from IDCRL to OAuth

Microsoft has announced that the SharePoint Online PowerShell module will be upgraded from the very old and now obsolete IDCRL protocol to use modern (OAuth) authentication in versions released from March 28, 2025. The update to OAuth should not affect scripts, but it’s always wise to test in case your use of the module is an edge case that Microsoft doesn’t test.