New Outlook Phishing Email Policy 2024

A new company policy feature has been put in place by Outlook 365 to detect Phishing emails. Outlook, uses this feature to make the viewer double-check the sender’s email address to ensure the email is not a scam email. We will be showing you how this feature works as well as how to alter it for your company. We Will also be covering what a phishing email is and how to spot one.

Outlooks policy:

Outlook’s new policy regarding phishing emails is to protect the user from encountering a potential phishing attack It is called a first contact safety tip which is added to certain emails by Microsoft to raise your suspicions of a new sender’s email address to ensure it is not a scam. The safety tip is shown to recipients whose emails are hosted in Office 365 in the following scenarios: The first time you get a message from a sender or if You don’t often get messages from the sender. This is a feature enabled in your organization by your IT admin/provider.

Altering the safety tip policy:

To disable it, you will need to be the admin this will probably be your IT provider or your IT admin.

Make sure to get in contact with your IT support company if you want to make any changes. At Liberate IT we would recommend that you keep this feature on since it allows users to become more aware of the sender’s email address limiting the risk of a phishing attack. The new policy was enabled last week with time, you should see that this feature will only apply to new emails in your inbox and fewer alerts for regular contacts such as others in your organization. Once this feature is turned off it will be applied to all users in your organization.

What is a phishing email?

Phishing pronounced (fishing) is a term used to describe cyber criminals who use scam emails, text messages, or phone calls to trick or scam their victims. Often, this is in the form of you the victim clicking on an unsecure link or website which may harm your computer via a virus or the attacker can attempt to steal your bank details or personal information. The attackers will usually pretend to be a genuine company, a friend, or a colleague with a fake message. How to Enable the First Contact Safety Tip for Exchange Online Protection – Microsoft Community Hub

How to spot a phishing email:

Usually, the attacker will say that the email needs urgent action and pretend to be a company or a colleague of yours. Make sure to Always check the sender’s address matches their name. If Joe Bloggs sends you an email, but his email address is xyz123@notme.com then it’s probably not Joe! Another sign is if the domain name is misspelled for example Microsoft being shown as Micdocoft. If the email asks for any financial details or changes, always confirm it is genuine with a phone call to the known number of the real company to double check. For more information on spotting spam emails, why not contact Liberate IT today to see how we can support your business IT?

Conclusion:

Outlook’s new feature is a valuable tool in safeguarding and minimizing spam clogging your inbox. While some users may find the default text change (“you don’t often get an email from…” )slightly inconvenient, the benefits of heightened security far outweigh any minor frustrations. we know this can be frustrating and you do always have the option to turn this off when speaking to your IT provider. Contact Liberate IT today for more information regarding phishing or any other IT concerns for your business.