Security News > 2024 > August > Users call on Microsoft to update Outlook's friendly name feature

Users are urging Microsoft to rethink how it shows sender email addresses in Outlook because phishing criminals are taking advantage, using helpful, friendly names to serve up emails loaded with malicious intent.

Outlook will helpfully show the friendly name if it can rather than the actual address of the sender.

"We want to just disable any sender aliases, full stop. We don't need them. We know the people we email. We can recognize their emails. For us, the alias / name override adds nothing of any value, it's just a security risk."

For context, Microsoft is not the only offender when it comes to being profoundly unhelpful in its attempts to make life easier for users.

A Register reader got in touch and said, "Effectively they do not allow enterprises to display the true email if an alias or friendly name exists, locking us into a format that phones don't use. I have contacted our Microsoft reseller and even they say that it's bad but that Microsoft won't listen to them."

El Reg contacted Microsoft to see if plans were afoot to add a setting to show the actual email address of a sender and we will update this article if and when the company responds.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/06/users_call_for_microsoft_to/