Detections
Analytics
1.9.8.4.2 Ensure 'Hide Junk Mail UI' is set to Disabled
Information
This policy setting controls whether the Junk E-mail Filter is enabled in Outlook. The Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook is designed to intercept the most obvious junk e-mail, or spam, and send it to users' Junk E-mail folders. The filter evaluates each incoming message based on several factors, including the time when the message was sent and the content of the message. The filter does not single out any particular sender or message type, but instead analyzes each message based on its content and structure to discover whether or not it is probably spam.If you enable this policy setting, junk e-mail filtering in Outlook is turned off entirely, in addition to hiding the filtering controls from users. In addition, you can use the 'Junk E-mail Protection level' policy setting to preset a filtering level and prevent users from changing it. Note - This policy setting does not affect the configuration of the Microsoft Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter (IMF), which provides server-level junk e-mail filtering.
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook is enabled. The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.
Rationale:
The Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook is designed to intercept the most obvious junk e-mail, or spam, and send it to users' Junk E-mail folders. The filter evaluates each incoming message based on several factors, including the time when the message was sent and the content of the message. The filter does not single out any particular sender or message type, but instead analyzes each message based on its content and structure to discover whether or not it is probably spam.
By default, the Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook is enabled. If this configuration is changed, users can receive large amounts of junk e-mail in their Inboxes, which could make it difficult for them to work with business-related e-mail messages.
Solution
To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting to Disabled.User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2016\Outlook Options\Preferences\Junk E-mail\Hide Junk Mail UI
Impact:
The name of this setting is somewhat misleading, as enabling it turns off junk e-mail filtering in Outlook entirely, in addition to hiding the filtering controls from users. You can use the 'Junk E-mail Protection level' setting to preset a filtering level and prevent users from changing it.
This setting does not affect the configuration of the Microsoft Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter (IMF), which provides server-level junk e-mail filtering.
See Also
Item Details
Audit Name: CIS Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 v1.1.0 Level 1
Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY
References: 800-53|SI-8a.
Plugin: Windows
Control ID: 8dd55ad84196169b13c07df2042ffcf961a4aa73cc54b5f2ead20b2c821db937