In 2017, the TTU IT Division
enabled Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (called Advanced Threat Protection at the time) for all TechMail customers. This technology, which checks links (Safe Links) and attachments (Safe Attachments) in all incoming email to determine if they are malicious, has been effective at stopping many cyberattacks against the TTU community. In certain circumstances, however, messages have been delivered without Safe Links scanning having completed successfully.
On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the IT Division will enhance the Defender for O365 service by allowing for Safe Links scanning to complete before delivering all messages. This improvement will better identify harmful links before the malicious messages reach your Inbox, making the technology even more effective at stopping threats. This may result in additional delays before messages are delivered, but generally only a few seconds.
As a reminder:
- Defender for O365 is fully automated. No action is needed on your part.
- Some links you receive may be prepended with https://REGIONCODE.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url= , where REGIONCODE may vary. This may appear when you hover your mouse pointer over a link.
- When you click a link in an email, if the site is known to be malicious, you will be notified by the message, “This website is classified as malicious. Opening this website might not be safe.”
- When clicking a link in an email that is not found to be malicious, the website will load as expected.
- Defender for O365 will continue to scan all email attachments and remove those that are determined to be malicious, as it has since it was first enabled in 2017. Messages containing large attachments may be delayed slightly, typically less than one minute.
