Microsoft Teams is adding two new security features to protect users against malicious links and dangerous files.
Starting next month, the messaging app will be able to “detect and warn users [about] malicious URLs sent in Teams chat and channels,” Microsoft says in an update to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. It will also block “messages containing weaponizable file types, such as executables, in chats and channels, increasing protection against malware and other file-based attacks.”
As Bleeping Computer notes, both features are currently marked as “in development,” but will begin rolling out next month on Android, iOS, desktop, and web.
They arrive close to a year after a Russia-based ransomware group, Black Basta, was found to be orchestrating cyberattacks via Microsoft Teams. The attackers spammed employee inboxes and contacted them through Teams, pretending to be IT support and promising a fix.
As part of the solution, they sent messages containing legitimate-looking yet malicious links and QR codes. Once users clicked on them, the attackers would install remote-access software on their devices, breach company systems, and lock up internal data for ransom. The two new protections aim to warn users before they become victims of such attacks.
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Last month, Microsoft also rolled out a Prevent Screen Capture feature to avoid screen captures during meetings. Soon, it will get Slack-like threaded replies that organize message replies in a structured thread instead of just cluttering the primary chat interface.
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