ACNS is rolling out a new email protection feature for Office 365 email that will quickly scan attachments and links to protect against phishing, malware and viruses.
ACNS – Academic Computing & Networking Services — is implementing a new feature designed to help protect Colorado State University students, faculty and staff who use Office 365 email against phishing, malware and viruses.
On Monday, Oct. 21, ACNS will roll out Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for Office 365 email. The service for colostate.edu email addresses helps defend against threats by quickly scanning attachments and links in emails received in Office 365.
The new service will only impact students, faculty and staff who use Office 365 as their email platform. Those who use Gmail as an email platform will not be affected.
According to ACNS, the automatic process of scanning attachments and links starts immediately after the message is received and takes less than a minute to complete; it may not even be noticed by the recipient.
This ACNS initiative is just one of several projects in the pipeline to protect against the growing threat of email scams and other cybercrimes to the campus community.
“This service features enhanced security for email that includes protection against unsafe attachments, links and malware,” said Brandon Bernier, interim assistant vice president for IT. “We’ve been piloting this with ACNS, Telecom and the Library, and it’s had great results. While it takes an extra few seconds to review the security of attachments before they’re ready to view, it is well worth it knowing that they are safe, secure and won’t compromise you or your computer.”
“This service features enhanced security for email that includes protection against unsafe attachments, links and malware.”
— Brandon Bernier, interim assistant vice president for IT
In the past year, there have been several reported email scams targeting the CSU community. One scam tried to get individuals to respond to a fake job offer.
Outside of CSU, major cyberattacks have targeted neighboring academic and governmental institutions. In August, Regis University in Denver had to shut down its computer, phone and email systems because of an attack. In February 2018, the Colorado Department of Transportation was hit by a brute-force attack that impacted its financial system.
Provost and Executive Vice President Rick Miranda stressed the importance of cybersecurity. “As the importance of cybersecurity continues to grow, I encourage our CSU community to look for ways to increase their education and awareness around this important topic,” he said.
ACNS support
To learn more about Advance Threat Protection for email and what to expect, visit help.mail.colostate.edu/ATP_expect.aspx.
For questions and assistance with Microsoft Advanced Threat Protection for Office 365 email, contact the Central IT Technical Support Helpdesk at (970) 491-7276 or help@colostate.edu.
