Hyperlinks in suspected phishing email messages must be disallowed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-228465	DTOO277	SV-228465r508021_rule		Medium

Description

This policy setting controls whether hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages in Outlook are allowed. If you enable this policy setting, Outlook will allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing messages that are not also classified as junk e-mail. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Outlook will not allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing messages, even if they are not classified as junk e-mail.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Outlook 2016 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2022-03-11

Details

Check Text (C-30698r497717_chk)

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Trust Center "Allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages" is set to "Disabled".

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\options\mail

Criteria: If the value JunkMailEnableLinks is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-30683r497718_fix)

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Trust Center "Allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing e-mail messages" to "Disabled".