Introducing Microsoft Defender Quarantine

In our ongoing commitment to safeguarding our digital communication, we are excited to announce improvements to the university’s Microsoft Defender service.

The university employs Microsoft Defender to evaluate emails for potential threats. It analyses incoming and outgoing messages, assigning a confidence score to each based on the likelihood of being spam or malicious. Depending on this score, Microsoft Defender automatically directs emails to the Microsoft Defender Quarantine area, the user's 'Junk' folder, or safely to the inbox.

From now on, emails that Microsoft Defender suspects to be malicious or spam will be directed to Microsoft Defender Quarantine rather than the previously used junk folder. This change aims to enhance the security and management of potentially harmful emails.

Other mailbox-specific settings, such as the 'Blocked Sender List', may still put emails in the junk folder.

You should normally receive an automated notification email of any email message(s) quarantined in the past four hours. This automated email will have the following properties:

• From: quarantine@messaging.microsoft.com
• Subject: Microsoft 365 security: You have messages in quarantine

There will be a link in the email to the Microsoft Defender Quarantine portal, where you can safely preview quarantined emails to confirm their legitimacy and release them to your inbox.

The Microsoft Defender Quarantine portal can also be accessed directly by using your university account to sign-in to security.microsoft.com/quarantine

This does not mean that you need to be less cautious about any unexpected email that you receive. If you are at all concerned about an email in a university mailbox, please use the 'Report Phishing' option in Outlook to report it. Guidance on how to use the Report Phishing option in Outlook is available on the portal. 

Why the change?

Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, launching targeted attacks via email and impersonating people you know. Organisations are responding by strengthening their security protocols. Emails delivered to the junk folder allow you to interact with them even if they have malicious intent. This not only poses a risk to you but also to the University and its reputation. Addressing this risk is the main reason for the change.

To find out more about the changes and how this may affect you and what you can do, please see the Microsoft Defender Quarantine guidance.

Remember, while these changes may cause some initial inconvenience, they play a crucial role in safeguarding our digital world.