UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Microsoft is bolstering its security against potential impersonation attacks by adding a safety tip to some incoming emails. The tip reads: “You don't often get email from [name of sender]. Learn why this is important."
The safety tip typically will appear the first time you receive an email from a sender or if you rarely get messages from the sender. It indicates Microsoft has flagged the email to draw your attention to the email address so you can more closely examine it for legitimacy.
If the email address is not familiar, you can forward the email to phishing@psu.edu, and Penn State's Office of Information Security (OIS) will review it. You can learn more about suspicious emails and phishing on the OIS website.
To prevent safety tips from appearing for trusted senders, you can add those email addresses to your safe senders list.
Microsoft's "Protect yourself from Phishing" page has more details on recognizing phishing emails.