If your organisation has recently rolled out the Phishing Tackle Phish Hook button to your mail client, use this guide to learn how it works and in what situations your may find it useful.
Click any of the links below to jump to the relevant section:
What is it?
The Phish Hook Button (pictured above) is a tool used for reporting suspected phishing emails to your organisation. When you use it, emails are forwarded to a mailbox (chosen by the team that installed it) where they are analysed by your IT/Security team. It helps your organisation maintain a higher level of security by alerting the relevant staff members of new threats as they arise.
How do I use it?
The Phish Hook Button should be clicked if you think you have received a phishing email or any other type of malicious email. Once you click the button and confirm, the email will automatically be deleted from your inbox and forwarded to the contact set up by your organisation.
Please refrain from using the Phish Hook Button to report spam/marketing emails, you can simply delete these types of emails. You may also add the sender of spam/marketing emails to your email block list. The Phish Hook Button should only be used for emails you believe to be dangerous, this is so as not to inundate your security department with false alarms.
NOTE: To add a sender/domain to your block list will differ depending on your email client, contact your IT support for details on how to do this.
Using Outlook (Desktop)
After the Phish Hook Button is installed, you will see it in your Outlook Desktop client (pictured below).
- Select an email you believe to be suspicious and click the Phish Hook Button on the top ribbon.
- This will open up a new dialogue box on the right displaying the details of the email and asking for confirmation to report it.
- NOTE: Depending on your organisation's settings, the dialogue box may have different colours/styles
- Click the large button to send the potentially dangerous email to your security contact for analysis.
- After a few seconds you will see a success message at the bottom of the dialogue box and the email will be deleted from your inbox.
Using Outlook Web Access (OWA)
After the Phish Hook Button has been installed, you will see it in your OWA window, under the main email drop-down menu (pictured below).
- Select an email you believe to be suspicious and click the drop-down menu ("...")
- Click "Phish Hook"
- This will open up a new dialogue box on the right displaying the details of the email and asking for confirmation to report it.
- NOTE: Depending on your organisation's settings, the dialogue box may have different colours/styles
- Click the large button to send the potentially dangerous email to your security contact for analysis.
- After a few seconds you will see a success message at the bottom of the dialogue box and the email will be deleted from your inbox.
Why should I use it?
By reporting suspicious/malicious emails, your security team are better able to analyse which emails are getting through your organisation's defences. This allows your organisation to better secure itself against ongoing phishing attacks and similar email attacks. The reporting process also keeps you actively engaged in the security of your organisation, this point is key as a significant part of the culture shift towards a cyber-secure organisation is having all users actively engaged in a security-first mindset.
You are the first and last line of defence against phishing attacks in your organisation!