Outlook must be configured to not allow hyperlinks in suspected phishing messages.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-223372	SRG-APP-000516	O365-OU-000027	SV-223372r961863_rule	2025-03-05	3

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.

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.

ℹ️ Check
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". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\options\mail If the value JunkMailEnableLinks is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

ℹ️ Check

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". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\options\mail If the value JunkMailEnableLinks is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

✔️ 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".