Emails containing malicious links and attachments are commonly used in attacks against large institutions. The University of 亚洲影院 uses Microsoft Safe Attachments and Safe Links to protect faculty, staff and students from phishing attacks and malware infections.
Phishing emails often contain a hyperlink or a URL that directs the user to a malicious website. Safe Links is a feature that scans all inbound email messages and provides time-of-click verification of URLs and links to provide an extra layer of protection against phishing emails.
Safe Links in Emails
The Safe Links security engine rewrites an URL in the body of an email when it is delivered. Depending on the type of email you receive and the email client you are using, you may notice a few visual changes to the URL. Most people receive emails formatted in HTML and there is no visual change in links for HTML emails. The URL rewrite is not noticeable in most email clients. In newer clients, hovering over the link will show the complete, rewritten URL, which will begin with "https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com."
Plain text emails are emails that do not allow for any formatting. While not as common as HTML emails, if you receive plain text emails, you will see a visual difference in the hyperlink. Rewritten URLs will show in the body of the email.
Once a link has been rewritten to a Safe Link, it will remain rewritten when you forward or reply to a message. You will not need to take further action. If an email is received from an external user, links will be rewritten when that email is delivered to a University user's mailbox. Additionally, any reply to that sender will contain the rewritten URL links.
Clicking on a Safe Link
Upon clicking a link, you may notice that the browser first takes you to the outlook.com subdomain used to rewrite the URL. This is part of the Safe Link workflow. The webpage is being scanned for any malicious content. If you click a non-malicious link, you will be redirected to your intended destination after a few moments. This redirection is usually not noticeable and should not cause significant delays. If a link is determined to be malicious by the Safe Links scanning engine, you will see a screen instead of the webpage. Find examples on the .
If you believe a URL has been blocked unnecessarily or a malicious website was not blocked successfully, please reach out to your IT support.
Safe Links and Other Microsoft 365 Applications
Safe Links security features also will apply to any URL in OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. There will be no visual change for links in these platforms, but the same protection will be applied.