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6.15 Set 'Automatically dial during a background Send/Receive' to 'Enabled:False'

Information

This policy setting determines how Outlook connects to dial-up accounts.
If you enable this policy setting, you can choose one or more of three options for Outlook-. Warn before switching an existing dial-up connection - Outlook displays a warning
message before a user switches to a connection other than the existing dial-up
connection. If this option is not selected, no switch will occur.

. Hang up when finished sending, receiving, or updating - Outlook automatically
disconnects after the user finishes a manual Send/Receive action.

. Automatically dial during a background Send/Receive - Outlook dials automatically
when it performs a background Send/Receive. Outlook will send and receive e-mail
messages without opening a dialog box and allows the user to continue using
Outlook features during the Send/Receive action.
If you disable this policy setting, users will not be allowed to switch to a connection other
than the existing dial-up connection.
If you do not configure this policy setting, the behavior is the equivalent of enabling this
policy setting and selecting the option- Warn before switching an existing dial-up
connection. The recommended state for this setting is- Enabled-False.

*Rationale*

By default, users can connect to their e-mail servers using dial-up networking if their
accounts are configured appropriately. Dial-up connections are often used by mobile users
who need to connect to the Internet from remote locations. Remote connections are
generally not subject to the same restrictions as enterprise network environments, which
can make them more vulnerable to attack.

Solution

To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting
to Enabled.

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook
Options\Mail Setup\Dial-up options\Dial-up options

Then set the Automatically dial during a background Send/Receive option to False.

Impact-The recommended setting is Enabled, with Warn before switching an existing dial-up
connection and Hang up when finished sending, receiving, or updating checked. This
configuration is intended to minimize the amount of time a user's computer spends on a
dial-up connection unnecessarily, and to ensure that the computer does not go or stay
online without the user's knowledge. It is unlikely to cause usability issues for most users.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/530

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-7b.

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: cc32b6041dec472d5fb79fbbdda9a4a7aeef8ae86630cce9110052ffc057bef1