Last week, OIT enabled Safe Links to emails inbound to campus. This security features has been in use for some time in Microsoft Teams. We’ve now extended the service to protect SMU email accounts, adding an additional layer of security to inspect embedded URLs in emails for possible phishing/malware sites in real-time.
Safe Links checks links in emails both as they arrive in your inbox and when you click on a link. This way, if a website becomes compromised after you receive an email but before you visit it, you gain an extra level of safety. You might have noticed this new feature by the appearance of some URLs within your emails. While the link will appear as intended in the message body, the underlying URL will be rewritten for security. Clicking these links will still lead to the intended site if the site has been evaluated as safe. If the site is not safe or suspicious, a warning will appear.
Even with Safe Links, the URL displayed within the body of the email remains untouched; only the hyperlink is changed to protect the reader from accidentally clicking on a malicious link. If you click on a link for a website that might not be safe, the page will be blocked from loading, and you will receive a warning that “This website is classified as malicious.”
If you believe a legitimate link is being blocked, please submit a Help Request to the IT Help Desk at help@smu.edu with a copy of the link.
For more information about Safe Links, please visit smu.edu/oit/infosec/safe-links.
