Detections
Analytics
1.13.4.1 Ensure 'Allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages' is set to Disabled
Information
This policy setting controls whether hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages in Outlook are allowed.If you enable this policy setting, Outlook will allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing messages that are not also classified as junk e-mail.
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Outlook will not allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing messages, even if they are not classified as junk e-mail. The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.
Rationale:
Outlooks Junk E-mail Filter evaluates each incoming message for possible spam or phishing content. Suspicious message detection is always turned on.
By default, Outlook handles suspicious messages in two ways:
* If the Junk E-mail Filter does not consider a message to be spam but does consider it to be phishing, the message is left in the Inbox but any links in the message are disabled and users cannot use the Reply and Reply All functionality. In addition, any attachments in the suspicious message are blocked.
* If the Junk E-mail Filter considers the message to be both spam and phishing, the message is automatically sent to the Junk E-mail folder. Any message sent to the Junk E-mail folder is converted to plain text format and all links are disabled. In addition, the Reply and Reply All functionality is disabled and any attachments in the message are blocked.
The InfoBar alerts users to this change in functionality. If users are certain that a message is legitimate, they can click the InfoBar and enable the links in the message.
Users can change the way Outlook handles phishing messages in the Junk E-mail Options dialog box by clearing the Disable links and other functionality in phishing messages (Recommended) check box. If this check box is cleared, Outlook will not disable links in suspected phishing messages unless they are classified as junk e-mail, which could allow users to disclose confidential information to malicious Web sites.
Solution
To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting to Disabled.User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2016\Security\Trust Center\Allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages
Impact:
Disabling this setting enforces the default configuration in Outlook, and is therefore unlikely to cause significant usability issues for most users.
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-3a.
Plugin: Windows
Control ID: 20f8a3811d31482a8b534296f42b98d72ba46a663d373f81379659fdc5447865