Skip to a section: What is Safe Links? | How does Safe Links work?
Available to
Faculty, Staff
What is Safe Links?
Safe Links checks the links in emails sent from outside ECU to confirm they are not malware.
It is often difficult to determine if a link in a received email is a legitimate URL or a trick leading to malware infection, data loss or identity theft. Fortunately, Safe Links, a feature of Microsoft 365, helps faculty and staff determine whether or not a link is safe.
Safe Links is part of Microsoft 365 and runs in the background to safeguard your account by verifying that links sent to you are not malicious.
How does Safe Links work?
Links scanned through the Safe Links system look different, and this is how you know each URL has been vetted through the anti-spam and anti-malware filter. Some email links will be exceptionally detailed and contain the “safelinksprotection.outlook.com” address as well as an extra-long string of numbers and letters.
Other links may look relatively normal.
When you click a link to open it, one of three things will happen:
- If the link is safe, the site opens.
- If the link is suspect, a warning page opens but allows you to continue if you feel the site is safe.
- If the link is malicious, a warning page opens, and you are unable to continue to the site.