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Change to reporting spam & other suspicious mail

Part of the Enhanced Email Security project and Proofpoint implementation (source: it.wisc.edu) includes changes to how most users report suspicious mail, including spam messages and phishing attempts. For the most current information about the process to report suspicious emails, please see Microsoft 365- Submit a message as spam/phishing (source: kb.wisc.edu).

What is changing?

On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, the UW–‍Madison “Report Spam/Phish” Outlook add-in was replaced with a Proofpoint “Report Suspicious” add-in (pictured below), which you should now use to report suspicious mail.

The location of the add-in varies depending on your operating system and which Outlook client you’re using. The button may appear in the top ribbon/toolbar, or you may need to click the 3 dots to expand a drop-down menu to see the add-in. See the KB article linked above for more information.

How does the Proofpoint “Report Suspicious” add-in work?

Once you click the “Report Suspicious” button, you’ll see a message saying the email has been sent to the security team for review. The email will automatically be moved to your “deleted items” folder.

Who is impacted?

This change impacts those who use Microsoft 365 Outlook, including both PC and Mac desktop and web clients.

Don’t use Outlook?

Important: The process to report suspicious mail has also changed slightly for those who use a non-Microsoft supported email client (e.g., Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Android/iOS native mail, etc.) or an older version of Outlook (2007/2010/2013). Previously, non-Outlook users sent a suspicious email as an attachment to report-spam@doit.wisc.edu. The new process is similar, but instead of sending it as an attachment, you should forward the message to report-spam@doit.wisc.edu. For more information, see the Microsoft 365- Submit a message as spam/phishing KB article (source: kb.wisc.edu).

Questions/concerns

As a reminder, our current email security solution will retire on Thursday, July 20, 2023. Proofpoint will be implemented prior to July 20 to ensure there is no gap in antivirus or spam prevention functions. If you have questions, concerns or feedback, please contact the Help Desk.