Starting June 5th, 2023, IT Services will be fully implementing Microsoft 365 Spam Protection. For most people the biggest change you see is spam email will now be redirected to your Junk Email folder in Outlook. As it learns your email patterns we recommend you check your Junk Email folder occasionally to make sure it has not caught something you know is legitimate.
What's the change?
Our current email filter has reached the end of its life and we are needing to move on. We are migrating to Microsoft's Spam Protection. This is built into the email you already use so you don't need to make any change for this to start working.
What does this mean for me?
People who have been moved to the new filter have already seen a decrease in the number of spam emails reaching their inbox. When Microsoft finds an email that could be malicious it will take one of the following actions. Move it to Junk Email, or quarantine.
Where is my Junk Email?
You can find the Junk Email folder in your Outlook, both on the website and in the desktop and mobile applications. It is usually located near your Inbox, Sent Items, or Outbox on the left sidebar of your mailbox.
What do I need to know about my Junk Email?
What if I see a bad email in my inbox?
What about the old ways of reporting email?
Going forward, if you want to report an email as malicious you can use the instructions above. Contacting Information Security directly is still an option, however it should be reserved for more in-depth questions or concerns. The "Phish Alert" button in your Outlook will work for the time being, however going forward we suggest using the instructions above as it actively protects you and your colleagues.
What is my Quarantine?
If something is seen as exceptionally bad by our filters it will be moved to a location outside of your inbox called the Quarantine. Currently access to this is restricted to IT as these emails often contain known Malware or Advanced Phishing attempts. We have set our filters to be as lenient as possible so that anything less than graymail can be found in your Junk Folder for your own review. If you believe you are missing an important email and cannot find it in your Junk Email or Inbox please reach out to Information Security, we'll look through your Quarantine and let you know if it's there and release it for you.
I clicked a link in my email and got a "Malicious site" page. What is this?
Part of the new Spam Protection suite includes link protection. When you click an email in our Outlook it will quietly check if the link is known to be malicious. If the link is safe it will load as normal, if it is seen as malicious you will receive a blocked site.
More Questions?
We want this change to be as seamless as possible for your work. If you want to know more, or if you are experiencing an issue with this new feature, please reach out to Information Security infosecurity@tru.ca and we can help find an answer for you.