Advanced Threat Protection Added to Exchange Online

The newly released Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) complements the Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Microsoft-hosted e-mail filtering service. ATP can protect e-mail users against previously unknown malware as well as malicious URLs and other types of threats that weren’t previously handled by EOP.

ATP Adds Behavior Analysis, Dynamic URL Blocking

ATP is a subscription service add-on to EOP, which can be purchased stand-alone or as part of Office 365 plans. It scans for previously unknown malware by filtering using the Safe Attachments feature. The feature routes all messages and attachments through a behavior analysis environment that uses machine learning and other techniques to identify attachments that might contain malicious code or other attacks. A Safe Links feature dynamically blocks links to URLs that are known to be malicious, preventing even redirected links from being opened by users, who are then warned about the site or informed that the site has been blocked. Finally, ATP improves EOP’s reporting capability by allowing investigation of messages and sites that have been blocked due to a known or unknown virus or malware. A URL trace capability allows administrators to track which users have clicked a malicious link and when they clicked it.