Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Safe Links

Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Safe Links

OIT has enabled an email security feature called Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Safe Links that will provide another layer of cybersecurity protection for all Brookdale email accounts: faculty, staff, and students. ATP provides robust spam and malicious software protection by scanning and testing all emails and attachments for unsafe behavior, malicious code, and phishing links.

How Safe Links Works

ATP Safe Links scans incoming email for known malicious hyperlinks and attachments containing malware. The URL is identified as safe, suspicious, or malicious.  If the URL is determined to be safe, the website automatically opens. If the URL is determined to be suspicious or malicious, a warning page opens, alerting the user to the potential threat. The feature rewrites scanned URLs to Microsoft’s standard URL format prefix: https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com and encodes the original destination in a placeholder to “safelinks.protection.outlook.com.” The encoding makes the original link that looks odd (see screenshot below). By pointing to the Safe Links service, Office 365 can screen the original address and make sure it’s not a reported spam or phishing web site.  If categorized as malicious, you will be redirected to a block page upon accessing the link in your browser.

Examples of ATP Safe Links and Warnings

Note: For additional  information on ATP Safe Links Warnings, please see ATP Safe Links warning pages

If you receive Plain-Text e-mails

When ATP Safe Links detects a hyperlink in a plain-text e-mail (non-HTML), it will rewrite the URL in plain text. In this case, you will see the rewritten URL directly in the body of the e-mail. E-mails with HTML or rich text are most common, so Plain-Text rewrites will occur infrequently.

If you forward an e-mail with a re-written link

Once ATP Safe Links has rewritten a URL, if the message is forwarded or replied to, the URL will remain rewritten. Additional links added to the message being replied to or forwarded will not be rewritten. If you believe recipients may have questions you could include the following in your signature: “Brookdale Community College e-mail is protected by Microsoft’s ATP Safe Links product. Hyperlinks in this e-mail may begin with ‘nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com’ and have a generally long format.“

Additional Assistance

If you experience any issues that you believe are related to ATP Safe Links filter, please contact the OIT Helpdesk by phone or email and give us the details of the trouble you are having. OIT is available, always here to help, and can be contacted in by phone, email, or any of the channels mentioned below.  You can also follow this Brookdale website link for detailed contact information:  https://www.brookdalecc.edu/oit/it_help_desk/.