As part of our cyber and data security improvements, we've introduced 'Safe Links', to help protect you from malicious links in emails. Safe Links is part of Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
What does Safe Links do?
We know how difficult it can be to spot malicious links in emails. Safe Links checks the links in any external emails coming in to the University and warns you if it might be a phishing or other malicious link.
If it spots a link in an email or a Teams chat that may be malicious, it rewrites the link so it is obvious you need to be careful. When you click on the link it will check the site and give you more information (see below).
What changes will I see?
If it spots a link that might be malicious, Safe Links will rewrite it so the link will now start like this in the desktop client version of Outlook:
In the online version of Outlook it will display
Original URL:<URL> Click or Tap if you trust this link.
To improve readability and accessibility, links are often behind text eg this is a link to the IT website. This text will say the same, but when you hover over the link you'll see it in the Safe Links format if it might be malicious.
What happens when I click on a link?
If you are accessing a link from an email or within a Microsoft Teams chat, you will likely see the 'verifying link' screen (shown below). This may take up to 30 seconds.
You'll then get one of these messages:
Scan still in progress
Suspicious email message
Phishing attempt
Malicious site
The link points to a site that has been identified as malicious.