Ran into something stupid with Exchange settings

[DirtySocks85]

I'm a substitute teacher, and during most of the school year the district does not issue me network access nor do I have an email account, but for the occasional long term sub position I am given these things on a temporary basis. I have one such long term coming up and I went ahead and set up my Exchange account for the district on my iPhone in order to get that email there.

As soon as I enabled the account it switched my passcode lock time from 4 hours to 15 minutes. Going into passcode settings I can see that the max lock time is now 15 minutes instead of 4 hours. The only reason I had it on a 4 hour lock time before was so that I only had to type it in once or twice a day instead of typing in my AppleID password every time I want to use that feature (my wife and I use it a lot to save on the busywork communication when we're coming and going places).

Now, I totally get why this happens: it's extra security, and if I'm adding an organizations Exchange email to my phone they should get a say in how the security is handled, but here's where logic fails:

I stilll have the ability to turn the pass code off altogether!

Does that make any sense to anyone else? I can't set a passcode time for longer than 15 minutes, but I can just turn the stupid thing off if I want. Why on earth is "pass code is optional, but if it's on it can only be set at a maximum 15 minute interval" even an option? Makes no sense.

 

[alent1234]

did you try to turn the passcode off?

which version of exchange does your organization run?

 

[DirtySocks85]

Yep, tried turning it off and that works just fine. I'd probably just leave it off, but as I said, that creates some issues with Find My Friends. It's not really so much a big complaint (I'll deal with it) as it is confusion as to why I have the ability to turn it off, but not to set it for a longer time. Seems a bit contradictory.

As for version of Exchange, I don't know, and I'm too low on the totem pole to ask without wasting someone's time. Is there a way to find out from my own settings on device or in Outlook?

 

[jkeekij]

You may end up seeing the passcode come back. Policy enforcement can undo all of your changes.

What version of Exchange is this?

 

[ckurt25]

That's probably the IT Security policies at the school and not a way to circumvent security on the phone nor a lack of control by Exchange. Seems like the school may have dropped the ball.

 

[alent1234]

yeah, i think there was a setting in exchange 2007 and some patch to enforce security settings if someone turns them off

 

[DirtySocks85]

yeah, i think there was a setting in exchange 2007 and some patch to enforce security settings if someone turns them off

Well, I turned off my pass code lock and about 30 minutes later it wa still off. There doesn't seem to be an override. Again, I'm not really complaining so much as simply being baffled that this is possible. It just seems so inconsistent.