External email tags and alerts
External email tags will notify you when an email has been sent from someone outside of Duquesne University. This notification alerts you to potential risks of clicking on links or opening attachments in emails sent from an unrecognized sender.
Phishing attacks are a top cybersecurity threat to Duquesne University. These types of attacks involve the use of malicious attachments or links in an email to steal personally identifiable information (PII). To identify potential phishing emails from outside senders, Computing and Technology Services (CTS) uses external email tags.
When you receive an email from a non-@duq.edu address, such as Gmail or Yahoo, the text [External] will be added to the beginning of the subject line. External email tags will appear when viewing your Duquesne University email in the Outlook Web App (OWA), email clients and mobile devices.
Example of external email tag
When composing an email to a non-@duq.edu address, you will see an alert indicating that the recipient is outside of Duquesne University.
Example of external email alert
This alert will only appear when accessing your email with the following applications:
- Outlook Web App (OWA)
- Microsoft Outlook 2010 or above (Windows only)
- Outlook App for iOS/Android
Note
- The text [External] added to the beginning of the subject line will be included in any forwarded copies of the email.
- External email tags are applied to the majority of external emails sent to email addresses ending in @duq.edu. However, it is possible for an external email to be delivered without an external email tag. In these cases, CTS recommends proceeding with caution when viewing the message.