Configure Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments & ATP Safe Links Policies for Office 365 Enterprise E5 License
In today’s world number of virus attacks are increasing immensely. Hackers use various tactics to bypass the security to somehow hack and get into the most vital server system in an organization.
However, end users must be protected from unknown/unwanted threats. There are many good antivirus systems available today. But the need of one anti-malware always exists that can provide an additional layer of security. Fortunately, Microsoft has launched Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to safeguard email users from receiving malicious attachment and links from external parties. It offers few add-ons that can ensure the protection by configuring Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments Policy. Now, how can user configure ATP safe attachment policies in Office 365 to protect email users from malicious attacks?. The user can easily perform this task with the help of this write-up via a simple and step by step procedure.
Two types of policies can be configured via ATP that are Safe Attachments and Safe Links.
- Safe Attachments : Policies to block malicious attachments that users receive via email are configured by admin. He/she can also redirect the message to a designated mailbox to ensure that the attachment is safe.
- Safe Links : Policies to inspect and block malicious websites links or URLs that are present in an email that user receives from third-party are configured by admin.
Steps to Configure Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments
1. To configure Safe Attachments, navigate to the Exchange Admin Center within the Office 365 portal
2. Select Advanced Threats in the Exchange Admin Center
3. Now, to create a New Safe Attachment Policy, under Safe Attachments click on “+” plus button. Safe Attachment Policy Configuration Window will be opened
4. Give the name of policy with a description and select the action (actions are self-explanatory) for the unknown malware in attachment in the Safe Attachment Policy Configuration Window
5. Select Replace to block the attachments. This option under Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments Policy will block the attachment found as malware but will continue to deliver the email messages without the attachment to the recipient
6. One can also specify the options to redirect the blocked attachment to a designated mailbox under Redirect Attachment on Detection and check Enable Redirect
7. Now, specify an email address under Send the attachment to the following Email Address option
8. Scroll down the Safe Attachment Policy Configuration Window and look for Applied to a section to specify if the rule needs to be applied to a particular recipient, recipient domain or to a group where a recipient is a member
9. Now, under the drop-down menu, Select Recipient Domain as this policy needs to be applied to everyone in the domain
10. Finally, hit Save to create the new Safe Attachment Policy
After performing all the above steps, this policy will block the unhealthy attachment that will be received and will deliver the attachment to the designated mailbox usually to the administrator.
Steps to Configure ATP Safe Links in Office 365
1. To create New Safe Links Policy, under Advanced Threats select Safe Links and click on “+” plus button
2. Now, the Office 365 ATP Safe Links Policy Configuration Windows will be opened
3. Give the name and description of the policy under the Safe Links Policy Configuration Window
4. Now, under Select the action for unknown potentially malicious URLs in messages select On to turn on the policy. Also, select Do not allow users to click through to original URL option
5. Scroll down the Safe Links Policy Configuration Window to look for Applied to a section to specify if the rule needs to be applied to a specific recipient, recipient domain or to a group where a recipient is a member.
6. Under the drop-down menu select Recipient Domain to apply this policy to everyone in the domain
7. Click Save to create the new Safe Links Policy
Now, this policy will prevent users from opening the unsafe URLs within their emails.
Final Words
As everyone knows that the types and amount of attacks against one’s organization and end users are only going to increase. It’s imperative that one will find affordable but effective protection against these threats. Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection is the one perfect solution to protect email users from receiving malicious attachments and links from third-parties by configuring Office 365 ATP Safe Attachments & ATP Safe Links Policy. Moreover, it also enables admin to generate advanced reporting and tracking to gain key insights of the attacks that the organization faces.