Start using Safe Links in Microsoft Teams

Many of you are probably worried about the security of your Microsoft Teams. One of the best ways that you can secure both yourself and your clients is by using Safe Links.

Let’s say you are using Microsoft Teams, and someone sends you a link, and you open it without thinking? Do you ever wonder whether the web link could redirect you to a malicious, infected site? Safe Links is the answer for your protection!

Safe Links is part of Microsoft Defender for Office 365. It is a real-time scanner that scans web links in conversations, teams, and groups, and based on the results, it will allow you to access a website or block access to it.

Here is an example.

Are you wondering how to set this up? Well, it is pretty easy, but before we get started, let’s see what are the prerequisites.

Prerequisites:

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1
Create the Policy

License suggestion
I always suggest to get a Microsoft Business Premium license. Because Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 is already built into Business Premium.

Steps to setup Safe Links

Navigate to https://protection.office.com
Go to Threat Management>Policy>Safe links.
Click on + Create.

Next, pick the Policy name and click Next.

First, set you policy name. This is an example of a policy that I have created.

Choose which users, groups, or domains you want to protect on the next page. I usually choose domains, so all users are protected.

You can target one or more users. My favorite is selecting a domain.

Next, the first two options are turned ON, and you can apply additional settings – see below. Do not track user clicks, Apply Safe links to email messages sent within the organization, Apply real-time URL scanning for suspicious links and links that point the files.

If you want to track who clicked on the link, you can uncheck **Do not track user clicks.**

You will see a message that your Policy has been set once you click the Next button. Click Save and you should be good to go. Sometimes it takes me several hours for the changes to appear.

This is the last step – telling you that the policy is all set.

I would like to mention one thing before I conclude this blog. You can also enable Safe Links in Office 365 apps. Why Office 365 apps? Because it protects you in desktop, mobile, and web environments. Additionally, it will scan all web links in your documents, excel files, emails, etc. Enabling this feature is definitely worth it.

How to enable Safe Links for Office 365 apps?

Once you finish setting up Policy for the Teams, click on Global settings.

Here, you move the slider to enable Use Safe Links in Office 365 apps.

IfTo learn more about Safe Links and in general Defender for Office 365, I recommend following this link to the Microsoft documentation. Microsoft docs Safe links.

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