Microsoft Safe Links was activated on all UA staff and faculty email accounts on Monday, November 30. It is a tool that scans incoming email, checking for malicious hyperlinks. As you are aware, phishing scams will often include links for you to click on to supposedly do something legitimate when they are actually tricking you into going to a malicious site to share sensitive information or download a virus. Safe Links identifies the true path of these links and makes it easier for you to identify suspicious emails. If you accidentally click on a link that is believed to be malicious, Safe Links will provide a pop-up that warns you of the risk and advises you not to proceed. This protection tool runs in the background, so if you never click on suspicious emails or links, you will likely never notice this tool. However, the bad guys are always improving upon their bag of tricks, so this added layer of safety provided by our OIT security team will help protect us if we ever let our guard down.
For more information, go to the Safe Links page on OIT’s website.