Safe Links: Microsoft Teams Now Protected Against Phishing Link Attacks

Microsoft is expanding its Defender functions to include the Teams communication tool, in which outgoing links can be checked for security concerns in real-time. “Safe Links” is already used in Word and Outlook. and is primarily intended to prevent phishing attacks.

Companies or administrators who use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 in their Microsoft 365 plan can now protect their Teams users even better against possibly manipulated links (URLs) and thus against security risk. As the Redmond-based company announced in a new blog post, the “Safe Links” function within the Defender will also take effect in Microsoft Teams from now on. The feature introduced in Office in 2015 is described as follows.

More Security With Links

“At its core, Safe Links provides a click-time check of URLs. The process of scanning URLs for potentially malicious content and re-evaluating them when a user clicks them. In fact, our detection systems detect nearly two million different URL-based ones every month Content that attackers create to initiate credential phishing campaigns. Every month our systems block over 100 million phishing emails containing these malicious URLs. “

For Microsoft Teams users the same advantages result as with “Safe Links” for Word, PowerPoint, and other Office 365 applications. End users are protected by teams in all areas as long as the company behind them activates Microsoft 365 Defender. More security is guaranteed not only in the team’s channels but also in private conversations and group chats. If a suspicious link is discovered when clicking on it, users receive the distinctive message “This website has been classified as malicious.”

In order to use “Safe Links” in Microsoft Teams, IT admins must configure the appropriate guidelines for their company in the Redmond-based Defender portal clears up the details.