Managing UCO Emails in Quarantine

Description

The Office of Information Technology has recently implemented additional security features to the UCO email system that may impact how you interact with your email on a daily basis. The growing volumes of unwanted spam, socially-engineered phishing, variants of ransomware and other malware, as well as targeted attacks from adversaries of all kinds, require this additional level of security to help shield UCO users and their data. 

OIT has implemented Microsoft Defender to assist with the evaluation of incoming and outgoing email messages for potential threats. A separate quarantine space has been created for each unique UCO Faculty and Staff email address and messages that have been identified as potential spam, phishing or malware will be routed to that address's quarantine. When that occurs, you will receive an email, similar to the one displayed below, providing you with options for managing that individual email. Additionally, you can visit your quarantine at any time by visiting https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine and logging in with the email address and password used to access that e-mail address's inbox. 

Quarantined emails can either be released to continue their journey to your regular inbox or deleted from the system completely. The instructions below will provide details on managing your quarantined mail from your email inbox and your quarantine space. Visit the Frequently Asked Question section if you have general questions about the system or the changes that have been made. 

**Note: If you need to add a domain as a safe sender for everyone in the University, please submit a ticket to e-mail services with a security access form signed by your supervisor.**

Instructions

Managing Quarantined Messages from Your Email Inbox

The following image is an example of an email you may receive from Microsoft Defender detailing the number of messages that are currently in quarantine. The email will provide a report of all the emails in quarantine including their Subject, Received Date, and the Sender (From:). 

The following steps will walk you through reviewing quarantined emails from your UCO email inbox.

  1. Open the UCO Email Quarantine Summary email from quarantine@messaging.microsoft.com to view the summary of all of your address's quarantined emails for the past 24 hours.
  2. Review the Date, From & Subject line for each individual email. Use this information to determine if the email is potentially damaging or can be deemed safe. 
  3. Click either Review to open the Microsoft 365 Defender online portal where you can (depending on why the message was quarantined) preview the message, Release the email so that it will appear in your account Inbox, or Block Sender to prevent future messages from the sender's address.
  4. Visit the Microsoft 365 Defender online portal to delete or report your quarantined messages. 

**Note: Releasing an email from Quarantine will immediately remove the email from your quarantine space and send it directly to your mailbox - please check your junk folder if the message does not show up in your Inbox.**

 

Managing Your Quarantined Messages from Microsoft 365 Defender online portal

You can also manage your quarantined messages from your UCO Email Quarantine space at https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine

  1. Visit https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine and log in using your UCO username and password. 
  2. Select Review - Quarantine from the menu on the left side of the screen to view all of your quarantined emails. 
  3. Review the email information and select the checkbox to the left of the email to take action. You may select one or more emails to take action on multiple items simultaneously. 
  4. Click either Release to send the email on to your account inbox or Delete to remove the email completely from UCO's systems. 

Notes

  • Additional information on managing quarantined emails for shared or service accounts is forthcoming. Check back soon for additional details! 
  • If you need to add a domain as a safe sender for everyone in the University, please submit a ticket to e-mail services with a security access form signed by your supervisor.
  • Releasing an email from Quarantine will immediately remove the email from your quarantine space and send it directly to your email inbox.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • What does this email mean and what are we supposed to do?
    Quarantine is basically a holding place for emails that have been flagged as potentially damaging. The quarantine system is being used to help make email more secure for everyone on campus as well as reducing the amount of suspicious or malicious emails being sent to the UCO community. The summary email you receive allows you to either release an email message (send it on to your inbox) or delete it completely from the system. Follow the instructions above for additional information.
  • Are all emails going to have to go through UCO Quarantine from now on?
    All emails being sent to a UCO email address are being evaluated by the quarantine system but not all emails are being held in quarantine. Only those emails that are deemed as potentially damaging stay in quarantine until you take additional action to release/delete it. 
  • What if I'm expecting an email but am not able to find it in my inbox?
    Emails can get placed in quarantine at any time of the day and maybe a location for emails you are expecting but are not appearing in your inbox. You can check for quarantined emails anytime you like by accessing https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine and logging in with your UCO credentials. Additionally, you may also check your spam/junk/clutter spaces in your email client to see if the email has been added to one of those locations instead. 
  • Do users have to log into another system to access their email in addition to logging into Outlook?
    Not at all! Normal workflows will not need to change to interact with your UCO email account. Continue using Outlook or other email clients to send and receive emails as normal. You even have the option to manage your quarantined emails through the email summary you receive daily, without the need to log in to another system. Some users, however, prefer to have a single place to reference any time they want to review their quarantined email. Those individuals can opt to access their quarantine space by logging in at https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine/
  • Are users expected to go through the list of quarantined items on a daily basis? Why do users keep receiving quarantine notification emails?
    How you manage your quarantined emails is completely up to you. If there are emails requiring your review, you will receive a single summary email. This summary email can be used to manage your quarantined emails or deleted. Keep in mind, however, quarantined emails will not be sent to your email inbox unless you take action to release them! 
  • This email looks suspicious/looks like spam/doesn’t look like something official from UCO.
    We've heard you and we have taken action! The initial rounds of quarantine summary emails did not reflect the current level of cohesiveness and sophistication you have come to expect from UCO communications. Updates to the email template have been made and a better-branded version is now being used. Please refer to the example email above to see what the latest version of the UCO Email Quarantine Summary report looks like. 
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