On October 13, 2021, Information Services began to utilize Microsoft's Safe Links service to enhance the security of BlueM@il, DePaul’s email service. DePaul email users may notice a new URL format in messages containing links.

When hovering over links, you might see this long address format:

• https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com (Note: Hovering over the URL may provide different results on various platforms).

This URL format is part of a filtering service from Microsoft which checks whether links in your DePaul email messages are connected to phishing scams, malware, or viruses that may harm your computer or compromise your personal information.

• See the example Safe Links warning prompts that you may see if a malicious link is detected. If you see one of these, do not click through unless you are positive the warning is wrong.

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More Information about Safe Links

(This documentation comes directly from this Microsoft page.)

What is Safe Links?

Safe Links scans incoming email for known malicious hyperlinks. Scanned URLs are rewritten using the Microsoft standard URL prefix: https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com. After the link is rewritten, it's analyzed for potentially malicious content.

After Safe Links rewrites a URL, the URL remains rewritten even if the message is manually forwarded or replied to (both to internal and external recipients). Additional links that are added to the forwarded or replied-to message are not rewritten. However, in the case of automatic forwarding by Inbox rules or SMTP forwarding, the URL will not be rewritten in the message that's intended for the final recipient unless that recipient is also protected by Safe Links or the URL had already been rewritten in a previous communication. Rewritten URLs apply only to HTML email, as rewriting the URL would make rich and plain text URLs unreadable, but these URLs are still scanned prior to delivery. Rich text and plain text emails containing URLs will also still be checked at the time of click in Outlook for Desktop version 16.0.12513 or later.

How Safe Links Work in Email Messages

At a high level, here's how Safe Links protection works on URLs in email messages:

• All email goes through EOP (a cloud-based service that filters incoming emails for malicious content)
• The user opens the message in their mailbox and clicks on a URL in the message.
• Safe Links immediately checks the URL before opening the website:
  
  
  1. If the URL is included in the Block the following URLs list, a blocked URL warning opens.
  2. If the URL points to a website that has been determined to be malicious, a malicious website warning page (or a different warning page) opens.
  3. If the URL points to a downloadable file, and the Apply real-time URL scanning for suspicious links and links that point to files setting is enabled in the policy that applies to the user, the downloadable file is checked.
• If the URL is determined to be safe, the website opens.

If you have any questions, please contact the DePaul Help Desk.