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). Computing and Technology Services (CTS) uses Office 365 Safe Links and Safe Attachments to protect against malicious links and attachments in emails.

Safe Links

Safe Links evaluates all links in an email message to determine if they point to safe or harmful content and replaces all links in incoming messages with URLs that begin with "https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com."

When you click a link, Safe Links evaluates the web address and the following actions will be performed:

• If the link is unsafe: You will be warned not to visit the website or informed that the website has been blocked. This will help combat the dangers caused when cybercriminals duplicate our website to steal PII.
• If the link is safe: You will be taken to the intended website.

Safe Attachments

Similar to Safe Links, Safe Attachments scans an incoming email's attachments for viruses or malware.

• If the attachment is safe: The email, including its attachment, will be delivered.
• If the attachment is unsafe: The email and attachment will be quarantined and you will not receive either.

If you were expecting an email message with an attachment and did not receive it, report it to the IT Service Desk who will verify if the message is quarantined. If the email does not pose a threat to Duquesne's email environment, the Service Desk can release it from the quarantine.