Email - Avoid missing messages snagged by the quarantine

Email correspondence with students and people outside of NIC can be a challenge as replies or email with sharing links can often get snagged by the quarantine. This can be mitigated by:
1) Encouraging students to use their NIC account to send mail to you
2) Glance at any quarantine notifications you're sent to spot any false positives
3) Check your quarantine online if you're expecting any email (https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine)

Introduction

Corresponding with your students and others who aren't at NIC can be a difficult primarily as they often prefer to use their personal accounts. This poses a challenge for the quarantine, as this type of email is similar to email sent by scammers who are trying to persuade you to do something or give away your credentials by following a link.

The purpose of the quarantine is to keep suspicious email away from Outlook. Email that's quarantined must be given additional scrutiny before being released. Doing this greatly reduces the chance of your computer becoming infected or you being scammed.

1 - Encourage your students to use their NIC account

One of the main issues resulting in false positives with email quarantine is it being unable to establish the reputation of the sender as your student's personal account is indistinguishable from accounts set up by scammers.

Email sent from them will still be scanned, but it'll have a much better chance of avoiding the quarantine. 

2 - Actively manage your quarantine

The quarantine doesn't need to stand in your way when you're expecting email. Browse to https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine as needed and sign in with your NIC credentials. You'll be presented with a list of email which you can then preview to see the content. The only restriction is that you won't be able to click on any links or open attachments.

If any new email appears in quarantine, you'll be sent a digest at most once per day to keep you informed.

2.1 - Access your quarantine online

1. Browse to https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine and sign in with your NIC credentials
2. You'll see a list of any email in your quarantine. Click on anything that looks like a false positive to see more information such as the sender and why the message was quarantined.
3. The quarantine will show you who sent the message and the reason for the quarantine (e.g. phishing or spam)
4. To preview your message, click on the "..." to see the preview option
5. If the message is urgent, read the message by previewing it. You can then create a new message in Outlook and reply to the sender 
6. If the email is legitimate and you'd like it delivered, click Request release.

3 - Review any quarantine notification messages 

1. Take a moment to glance at the quarantine notifications you receive and review anything that looks legitimate. At most, you'll receive one per day
2. For each new message, you'll be provided links to review, release or block sender.