In a continued effort to protect the Department of StateGrowth, Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Safe Links and Safe Attachments has been implemented.
How it works
ATP scans incoming e-mail for known malicious hyperlinks and for attachments containing malware. This feature rewrites scanned URLs to Microsoft’s standard URL format prefix https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com. Once a link is rewritten, it is analysed for any potential malicious content. If categorized as malicious, you will be redirected to a block page upon accessing the link in your browser. ATP works behind-the-scenes, which means you do not need to do anything to activate or take advantage of the system.
ATP in Action
Rewritten URL’s can be observed by hovering over the link:
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 access a link that is classes as unsafe/malicious you will be redirected to a block page that will look similar to this:
Forwarding 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:
“The Department of StateGrowth is protected by Microsoft’s ATP product. Hyperlinks in this e-mail may begin with ‘nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com’ and have a generally long format”
Malicious attachments
If you are sent an email and the attachment is found to be malicious you will still receive the email. However the malicious attachment will be removed and replaced with a text document letting you know that an attachment was removed.
Additional Assistance
If you believe a URL has been blocked unnecessarily or believe a fraudulent site has not been blocked, please reach out to the IT service Desk at it.servicedesk@stategrowth.tas.gov.au.