Security changes in Microsoft Outlook

Due to ongoing efforts to highlight potentially malicious emails, you will shortly see safety tips display when viewing your emails. These safety tips are there to alert you that there is something unusual about the email and that the sender may not be who they say they are.

This does not necessarily mean that the email is malicious but it is highlighting that there is something to be aware of. If you do notice anything suspicious about an email, you can always report it through the Report Spam or Report Phishing buttons in Outlook. 

Find out more about phishing >

What is changing?

You will get notifications via a question mark icon in the profile and a safety tip banner at the top of the email, these include:

• A first contact safety tip

The first contact safety tip may be displayed if you receive an email from someone that hasn’t emailed you before.

The tip is designed to remind you to be careful about clicking on links or opening attachments from unknown senders. You may see a '?’ in the profile with 'You don't often get email from:' tip in the banner.

• An impersonation safety tip

This may be displayed if you receive an email that appears to be from someone who has emailed you before, but the email address is not the same email address as they used previously.

This tip is designed to remind you to check that it is indeed the same sender prior to clicking on any links or opening any attachments. You may see a '?’ in the profile with a ‘appears similar to someone who previously sent you email but may not be that person’ tip in the banner.

• An unusual character safety tip

This will appear if you receive an email and the sender's email address uses unexpected letters or numbers, possibly trying to make the email address appear to look the same as one that you trust.

You may see a '?’ in the profile with a ‘The email address XX@XX includes unexpected letters or numbers. We recommend you don’t interact with this message’ tip in the banner.