Affiliation: Everyone
What are Safe Links?
Safe Links, part of Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), scans and verifies links in email and Office 365 apps. Safe Links is an added layer of protection that will help identify phishing and malware attacks.
How do Safe Links Work?
Safe Links scans email and applications for malicious links. Scanned links are rewritten using the Microsoft standard URL prefix: https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com. After the link is rewritten, it's analyzed for potentially malicious content. When malicious links are found Safe Links blocks those links. Most of these changes will not be visible to you.
Safe Links immediately checks the link before opening the website:
- If the link has been blocked, a blocked URL warning will be displayed.
- If the URL points to a website that has been determined to be malicious, a malicious website warning page will be displayed.
- If the URL points to a downloadable file, the downloadable file is checked.
- If the URL is determined to be safe, the website opens.
Emails sent in Plain Text format will display the full rewritten Safe Link in the message. Here is an example of what that looks like:
https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwmubroncos.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Chelpdesk%40wmich.edu%7Cf068a2234f874c78c1bd08d974621216%7C257622517aa94c72905f39bf026a8a84%7C0%7C0%7C637668786828323061%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=LHWqwd%2BiMgRAyIkXKi1f732IVSWMwu7cQ0P%2F8ZnM6l4%3D&reserved=0
See a link? Stop and think!
Phishing is an online scam involving emails with a clickable link that appears to be from a trusted source. Learn how to identify the signs of phishing.