Microsoft

Schakel die ontvangstbevestiging van mail alvast uit (in #Microsoft #Outlook, outlook.com, Outlook web en andere mail apps)

Deze week is er een aanpassing van het Belgische Wetboek uitgevoerd, die het eindelijk mogelijk maakt om via email kennisgeving te doen… zodat je via elektronische mail rechtsgeldige verzending zou moeten kunnen doen.
Zou…

Want het is misschien wel een grote stap vooruit in de rechtsspraak… maar waarom zou je de tegenpartij moedwillig in de kaart willen spelen?
In het ergste geval zou je dus ZELF het bewijs gaan leveren aan de tegenpartij…

Is dat nu wel een goed idee?
Ik denk het niet…

Dus zoals het artikel in de Tijd over deze wetsaanpassing al aangeeft…

 ‘Als blijkt dat u de mail gelezen heeft, door te antwoorden of via een leesbevestiging, dan is de kennisgeving sowieso geldig gebeurd.’ Het voorgaande impliceert dat e-mailgebruikers maar beter voorzichtig met leesbevestigingen omspringen. Zonder leesbevestiging of antwoord is het nog altijd aan de verzender om te bewijzen dat de ontvanger de mail wel degelijk ontvangen of gelezen heeft.

Mieke Verplancke in De Tijd – door PETER VAN MALDEGEM 
17 augustus 2022

Maar hoe schakel je die ontvangstbevestiging van mail nu uit?

Voor enkele van de meest gebruikte mail programma’s geef ik je alvast de nodige stappen mee.
Voor alle duidelijkheid, veel van die stappen vind je al op ‘t internet, dus voor enkele programma’s geef ik wat pointers naar goeie artikels… kwestie van de mail niet opnieuw uit te vinden.

Mogelijk voeg ik er later nog wat extra mail programma’s toe aan het lijstje.. maar hier kan je al mee starten. Kijk maar even of je favoriete mail client er tussen zit… En anders nog wat opties helemaal achteraan dit artikel.

Disclaimer: ik heb zelf niet altijd de Nederlandstalige versie van de gebruikersomgeving, dus sommige referenties gebruiken Engelse termen, maar je komt er zo ook wel.

Ik heb de volgende mail clients alvast opgelijst

  • Windows Mail app (Win10/11)
  • Outlook.com (web)
  • Microsoft 365 / Office 365 Outlook web
  • Microsoft 365 / Office 365 Outlook client
  • Outlook for Mobile Devices (Android)
  • Apple
  • GMail

Windows Mail app (Win 10)

Geen probleem, want er zijn geen opties in de Windows Mail app.
Dus als je opties wil, moet je een andere mail client zoeken, deze is te eenvoudig.

Outlook.com (web)

Zelf leesbevestiging vragen?

Njet, de Outlook.com web mail heeft die optie niet. (Wel via de Outlook voor Windows)

Leesbevestiging uitschakelen

Bron: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/read-receipts-in-outlook-com-dc1b74ac-8578-469f-8894-82746e8e5aef

  1. Selecteer Instellingen Instellingen > Alle Outlook-instellingen weergeven.
  2. Selecteer E-mail > berichtafhandeling.
  3. Kies onder Leesbevestigingenhoe u reageert op aanvragen voor leesbevestigingen.

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft 365 / Office 365 online web versie

Bron: https://support.microsoft.com/nl-nl/office/leesbevestigingen-in-outlook-web-e09af74d-3519-45fc-a680-37a538a92157

Het scherm is gelijkaardig aan de outlook.com versie…

Leesbevestiging uitschakelen doe je zo

Settings> Mail >Message Handling > Read Receipts

Microsoft 365 / Office 365 / Outlook v2016, v2019, … mail client

Leesbevestiging vragen (voor één mail of alle mail)

Zie dit Microsoft Support Artikel : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-and-request-read-receipts-and-delivery-notifications-a34bf70a-4c2c-4461-b2a1-12e4a7a92141?WT.mc_id=ES-MVP-5002204

Leesbevestiging uitschakelen

Open je Outlook client, menu File (Bestand) > Selecteer de juiste mailbox (als je er meer dan één hebt) > Kies Options (Opties) > Mail > Tracking

Meer details alvast in deze interessante artikels (Engels)

Outlook for Mobile Devices (Android)

Bron: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/disable-read-receipts-in-outlook-for-android/eee5a248-935c-42da-9087-1487fa70b860

  1. Open Outlook Web App(OWA).
  2. Login op je mailbox (je moet onderstaande herhalen als je meerdere maiboxen hebt)
  3. Kies Settings/Instellingen (View All Settings)
  4. Kies General/Algemeen > Mobile Devices
  5. Kies Don’t send read receipts for messages read on devices that use Exchange ActiveSync.

Apple

Houd er rekening mee dat de meeste instellingen voor het lezen van e-mails zich op het niveau van de e-mailtoepassing bevinden… het hangt er dus van af welke e-mailapp u op uw apparaat gebruikt.

Maar: “Apple Is Killing Email Read Receipts With a Single Popup” (https://medium.com/big-tech/apple-is-killing-email-read-receipts-like-entirely-14da5aa7fa75)

En ook:

Gmail

Google workspace (professional/enterprise)

How do I turn off automatic read receipts for my users?https://support.google.com/googlecloud/answer/10636687

Gmail web (gratis)

Geen opties voor ontvangstbevestiging bij verzenden of ontvangen.
[Opmerking, ik heb ze alvast niet gevonden, … als ze er zijn, laat gerust iets weten.]

En nog een paar andere mail clients

Nog andere artikels

You expect a phishing test… and then the real stuff kicks in… some quick tips to block evasion techniques

I see more and more phishing exercise fatigue kicking in at my customers…

But it’s more than ever required to be vigilant for new techniques that try to circumvent the typical URL blocking and the other protection layers you put in place.

You’re the best firewall.

What is going on?

You know, these companies that first announce a #phishing test…

which go unnoticed because they are caught by the 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫…

And a few weeks later you get the 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 from the same company.

With ridiculous worse quality than the actual test… but still its in the inbox ready to click (DON’T!).

You assume phase 2 of the phishing test…another round, right? (you think: “yeah, right, not me.”).

Because the new mail comes with ridiculous bad quality (⚠️1) than the actual test…

Nowadays you expect smart mails from these criminals…

But still it doesn’t feel OK …you start to realize that this might the real stuff…

Checking for some more phishing indicators (⚠️)

A mail with you in bcc…. (⚠️2)

Addressed to a very strange (New-Zealand) mail address (⚠️3)

with a PDF alike icon image embedded (⚠️4)

via a google drive link (⚠️5)….

SPOILER: I crippled the link mentioned in previous screenshot to avoid any accidents…

SPOILER 2: DO NOT, EVER CLICK these links…

Still, If you can’t control your curiosity, you might peek into the link via alternative methods (see later).

The display of unrelated content, with payment instructions (⚠️6), isn’t really what you would expect.

Because if you even dare to click the links you get another link (⚠️7)… and this time the browser malware detection (Smartscreen filtering) kicks in .. at last… so I’ll stop the curiosity here…

Why is this an issue?

The main issue here is: the phishing links are pointing to well-known (like Google drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox…) for hosting malware, which usually escape or bypass the malware URL detection…

Security tips

Rule nr 1: Don’t click links in unexpected mails

Curiosity kills the cat: Please withstand the urge to click the links to satisfy your curiosity….

If you don’t expect the mail, be very cautions, don’t click the links.

Control your curiosity: test the links in isolated mode

If you can’t control your curiosity, don’t ever click the links on your main computer.

But copy the link and open it

  • in a Windows sandbox
  • virtual machines or test machine… not your production machine
  • mobile device

Use Windows Sandbox

Since Windows 10 (Pro) you can use Windows Sandbox (free), that is a virtual, isolated environment. So you can test some interesting things without damaging your production host machine.

By stopping the Sandbox, the machine forgets all settings and returns to default state, pristine.

More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview

Run a quarantined client in virtual machine

Use Microsoft Hyper-V (free) or Oracle Virtual box (free) and install a client OS in the virtual machine.
Snapshot the machine before the test, perform the test, return to snapshot to avoid any left overs of malware.

Run the link on a mobile phone

Less secure, but better than running malware on your most important machine, is running the link on a browser on your mobile device. There is lower risk of infection and less impact than loosing your primary working machine, although… be aware, there is still a small risk of infection even for smartphones…

Additional security measures

To permit some stupidity and protect against accidents, please make sure

  • to implement all the latest OS security updates, patch on a continuous basis
  • have an anti-malware and anti-virus that is updated continuously
  • keep the default OS security features enabled including local system firewall and malware detection
  • consider a paid antivirus subscription, it’s worth the money and keep it up to date every hour
  • get a mail protection against malware, tracking, phishing and ransomware (like Windows defender for 365) have regular backups (1 online and 1 offline) and test the restores
  • use cookie/tracking/advertisement blockers
  • use a DNS blackhole system to protect your network from accessing suspicious URLs (including tracking and phishing websites, advertisements, C&C Command and control malware domains, …)

You’re the best firewall

Don’t get caught.

Don’t be curious.

Suspect everything you don’t expect.

Don’t click the links.

And if you’re curious, keep it safe and secure.

Outlook troubleshooting: Outlook keeps prompting for password

Overview

Issue: when opening Outlook and afterwards on a regular intervals afterwards, Outlook keeps prompting for a password multiple times (x5 or more), even when the password is correct.

The error/connection message is sent to the desktop foreground on top of other applications.

Even when the password is ok, the message is thrown again multiple times, when the Outlook client is checking for mail, at certain intervals…

[Solution Spoiler = configure the registry to enable ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint, but there might be other options for your case…]

Product version

In this specific situation, the products below were involved. The issue might also apply to other versions

  • Office version= Microsoft 365
  • Outlook version Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20224) 64-bit
  • Exchange server version 15.1.2308.4008. (on premises)

Additional information

Type of mailbox

In this case, the issue was related to connecting to a functional/shared mailbox.
Connection to the personal mailbox was working fine, at first sight.

Standalone vs Domain

In this particular case, the PC was not connected to the domain of the Exchange server.

But also important connection on Outlook from domain joined PC is ok, no reconnection message.
[More on this at the end of the article, as the domain client had specific GPO policies configured, …]

Multiple mail accounts

Outlook connected to multiple mail accounts (so removing Outlook completely, was not really an option…)

No issue on phone

Connecting the same account on a smartphone, works fine.

Symptoms

Error message

No explicit error message but you get a window with

“Windows security

Microsoft Outlook

Connecting to <… mailbox …>

Remember my credentials”

Error screen

Troubleshooting

Account credentials

WARNING:

you might end up with a locked user account if you enter the wrong credentials by accident while outlook keeps popping up the password request. Better double check your password and better NOT enter it again, or change it in the password request. But you’ll get this request multiple times in a few seconds, that it can be quite annoying to get past it.

Mail account

  • Tried to reinstall the mail account.
  • Removed the mail account and reinstalled mail account.

Configuration panel – Mail profile

Create a new Outlook profile (do NOT remove the existing Outlook profile) and add ONLY the problematic account. Set it to ONLINE mode (disable caching mode)

You can manage this option via Control Panel > mail

Alternatively, when reinstalling the mail account in outlook, disable the option “Use cached Exchange Mode to download email to an Outlook data file”.

Check Outlook connection status

When Outlook is active, you’ll find an Outlook icon in the task bar…

To check the Outlook connection status you need to hold the CTRL button and then right click on the Outlook icon.

Then click “Connection Status…”


Check if you see the personal mailbox and shared mailbox connection.

Test Email AutoConfiguration…

When Outlook is active, you’ll find an Outlook icon in the task bar…

To check the Outlook connection status you need to hold the CTRL button and then right click on the Outlook icon.

Then click “Test Email AutoConfiguration…”

In the menu enter the mail address of the target mailbox, in this case it’s a share mailbox with a specific mail address.

Very likely you’ll see a bunch of autodiscover failures like:

Alternative – Network analysis with Fiddler

You can collect a network log with Fiddler or other network sniffer

www.telerik.com

  1. Install Fiddler.
  2. Select decrypt https traffic
  1. Close fiddler
  2. Close all programs, messengers, browser etc.
  3. Start Fiddler
  4. Start Outlook and wait until problem comes up
  5. When problem appears STOP fiddler and close Outlook
  6. Check the log files and see if you can detect the issue.

Solution

Policy control via registry setting

Source: Outlook 2016 implementation of Autodiscover

This applies to 2016 2019 etc… as well.

The policy values that are defined the Autodiscover Process section can be either policy-based registry values or non–policy-based values.  When they are deployed through GPO, or manual configuration of the policies key, the settings take precedence over the non-policy key.
Non-Policy Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover
Policy Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover
Each value is of type DWORD.

So to exclude Office365 checking point we add following key:

ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint and set the value to 1.


This setting is registry for client only.
Outlook will skip checking Office365 Endpoint for Autodiscover.

If you have already configured XML autodiscover it should not affect the existing setting as the information are stored in this XML file locally anyway so Outlook will know how to connect.

Outlook as priority always prefer local XML configuration. Then in case it cannot obtain certain data goes to another check point. So apart from first two steps  Outlook 2016 implementation of Autodiscover (microsoft.com) there are checking points we can configure how Outlook should obtain certain information. We can disable them or force them.

You can give it a try if this won’t work as desired you can always revert the changes.

Always make a copy of your registry before you change anything in the registry.

There is no really any other way from the client perspective.

In our case we can see many redirections and autodiscover failures. Not sure why, looks like Outlook refers to some old data or old domain URLS or cannot obtain properly Autodiscover configuration file and it is trying different combinations to guess which link for Autodiscover is working.
Once it calls for HTTPS Autodiscover of the correct link it gets timeouts… which might also indicate firewall issue or something.

Then it tries unencrypted HTTP and it succeeds. Now it redirects to Autodiscover configuration link. But it takes a few attempts to get there.
That’s why you get multiple popups of the error message / or the password prompt.

Why the issue did not hit the domain joined mail clients?

The mail administrator had following options configured already:

Setting the options for

  • DisableAutodiscoverV2Service = 1
  • ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint = 1
  • excludehttpredirect = 1
  • excludehttpsautodiscoverdomain = 1
  • excludehttpsrootdomain = 1
  • excludelastknowngoodurl = 1
  • excludeScpLookup = 1
  • excludesrvrecord = 0
  • zeroconfigexchangeonce = 1

References

Note-to-self: #ZeroTrust #maturity model assessment by #Microsoft

Have you ever assessed the maturity of #cybersecurity implementation?

The #ZeroTrust #maturity model assessment by #Microsoft provides you with great insights, where to start or which part of your security needs improvement.

Easy to use, easy to understand, great results and great guidance.

You can find the assessment tool here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/zero-trust/maturity-model-assessment-tool

And if you need more info, then bookmark this Zero Trust resources page: https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/05/24/resources-for-accelerating-your-zero-trust-journey