Edit

Configure the delivery of third-party phishing simulations to users and unfiltered messages to SecOps mailboxes

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  • 18 minutes to read

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Applies to

To keep your organization secure by default, Exchange Online Protection (EOP) does not allow safe lists or filtering bypass for messages that are identified as malware or high confidence phishing. But, there are specific scenarios that require the delivery of unfiltered messages. For example:

  • Third-party phishing simulations: Simulated attacks can help you identify vulnerable users before a real attack impacts your organization.
  • Security operations (SecOps) mailboxes: Dedicated mailboxes that are used by security teams to collect and analyze unfiltered messages (both good and bad).

You use the advanced delivery policy in Microsoft 365 to prevent inbound messages in these specific scenarios from being filtered*. The advanced delivery policy ensures that messages in these scenarios achieve the following results:

* You can't bypass malware filtering.

** You can bypass ZAP for malware by creating an anti-malware policy for the SecOps mailbox where ZAP for malware is turned off. For instructions, see Configure anti-malware policies in EOP.

Messages that are identified by the advanced delivery policy aren't security threats, so the messages are marked with system overrides. Admin experiences will show these messages as due to either a Phishing simulation system override or a SecOps mailbox system override. Admins can filter and analyze on these system overrides in the following experiences:

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • You open the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com. To go directly to the Advanced delivery page, open https://security.microsoft.com/advanceddelivery.

  • To connect to Exchange Online PowerShell, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

  • You need to be assigned permissions before you can do the procedures in this article. You have the following options:

    • Microsoft 365 Defender role based access control (RBAC): configuration/security (manage) or configuration/security (read). Currently, this option requires membership in the Microsoft 365 Defender Preview program.
    • Email & collaboration RBAC in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and Exchange Online RBAC:
      • Create, modify, or remove configured settings in the advanced delivery policy: Membership in the Security Administrator role groups in Email & collaboration RBAC and membership in the Organization Management role group in Exchange Online RBAC.
      • Read-only access to the advanced delivery policy: Membership in the Global Reader or Security Reader role groups in Email & collaboration RBAC.
        • View-Only Organization Management in Exchange Online RBAC.
    • Azure AD RBAC: Membership in the Global Administrator, Security Administrator, Global Reader, or Security Reader roles gives users the required permissions and permissions for other features in Microsoft 365.

Use the Microsoft 365 Defender portal to configure SecOps mailboxes in the advanced delivery policy

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com, go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & Rules > Threat policies > Advanced delivery in the Rules section. To go directly to the Advanced delivery page, use https://security.microsoft.com/advanceddelivery.

  2. On the Advanced delivery page, verify that the SecOps mailbox tab is selected, and then do one of the following steps:

    • Click Edit icon. Edit.
    • If there are no configured SecOps mailboxes, click Add.

  3. In the Edit SecOps mailboxes flyout that opens, enter an existing Exchange Online mailbox that you want to designate as SecOps mailbox by doing one of the following steps:

    • Click in the box, let the list of mailboxes resolve, and then select the mailbox.

    • Click in the box start typing an identifier for the mailbox (name, display name, alias, email address, account name, etc.), and select the mailbox (display name) from the results.

      Repeat this step as many times as necessary. Distribution groups are not allowed.

      To remove an existing value, click remove Remove icon. next to the value.

  4. When you're finished, click Add, and then click Close.

The SecOps mailbox entries that you configured are displayed on the SecOps mailbox tab.

Use the Microsoft 365 Defender portal to modify or remove SecOps mailboxes in the advanced delivery policy

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com, go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & Rules > Threat policies > Advanced delivery in the Rules section. To go directly to the Advanced delivery page, use https://security.microsoft.com/advanceddelivery.

  2. On the Advanced delivery page, verify that the SecOps mailbox tab is selected, and then click Edit icon. Edit.

  3. In the Edit SecOps mailboxes flyout that opens, you add or remove mailboxes as described in the previous section.

    To remove all mailboxes, click remove Remove icon. next to each value until there are no more mailboxes selected.

  4. When you're finished, click Save and then click Close.

The SecOps mailbox entries that you configured are displayed on the SecOps mailbox tab. If you removed all SecOps mailbox entries, the list will be empty.

Use the Microsoft 365 Defender portal to configure third-party phishing simulations in the advanced delivery policy

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com, go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & Rules > Threat policies > Advanced delivery in the Rules section. To go directly to the Advanced delivery page, use https://security.microsoft.com/advanceddelivery.

  2. On the Advanced delivery page, select the Phishing simulation tab, and then do one of the following steps:

    • Click Edit icon. Edit.
    • If there are no configured phishing simulations, click Add.

  3. In the Edit third-party phishing simulation flyout that opens, configure the following settings:

    • Domain: Expand this setting and enter at least one email address domain (for example, contoso.com) by clicking in the box, entering a value, and then pressing Enter or selecting the value that's displayed below the box. Repeat this step as many times as necessary. You can add up to 20 entries.

      Note

      Use the domain from the 5321.MailFrom address (also known as the MAIL FROM address, P1 sender, or envelope sender) that's used in the SMTP transmission of the message or a DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) domain as specified by your phishing simulation vendor.

    • Sending IP: Expand this setting and enter at least one valid IPv4 address by clicking in the box, entering a value, and then pressing Enter or selecting the value that's displayed below the box. Repeat this step as many times as necessary. You can add up to 10 entries. Valid values are:

      • Single IP: For example, 192.168.1.1.
      • IP range: For example, 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254.
      • CIDR IP: For example, 192.168.0.1/25.

    • Simulation URLs to allow: Expand this setting and enter specific URLs that are part of your phishing simulation campaign that should not be blocked or detonated by clicking in the box, entering a value, and then pressing Enter or selecting the value that's displayed below the box. You can add up to 30 entries. For the URL syntax format, see URL syntax for the Tenant Allow/Block List. These URLs are wrapped at the time of click, but they aren't blocked.

    To remove an existing value, click remove Remove icon. next to the value.

  4. When you're finished, click Add, and then click Close.

The third-party phishing simulation entries that you configured are displayed on the Phishing simulation tab.

Important

To configure a third-party phishing simulation in Advanced Delivery, you need to provide the following information:

  • At least one Domain from either of the following sources:
    • The 5321.MailFrom address (also known as the MAIL FROM address, P1 sender, or envelope sender).
    • The DKIM domain.
  • At least one Sending IP.

You should also add URLs that will be used in your phishing simulation messages in Simulation URLs to allow. This action ensures that these URLs are not treated as real threats at time of click: the URLs will not be blocked or detonated, and no URL click alerts or resulting incidents are generated. You can specify up to 30 URL entries and use wildcards (*) as described in the URL syntax for the Tenant Allow/Block List section later in this article.

There must be a match on at least one Domain and one Sending IP, but no association between values is maintained.

If your MX record does not point to Microsoft 365, the IP address in the Authentication-results header must match the IP address in the advanced delivery policy. If the IP addresses don't match, you might need to configure Enhanced Filtering for Connectors in order for the correct IP address to be detected.

Use the Microsoft 365 Defender portal to modify or remove third-party phishing simulations in the advanced delivery policy

  1. In the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com, go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & Rules > Threat policies > Advanced delivery in the Rules section. To go directly to the Advanced delivery page, use https://security.microsoft.com/advanceddelivery.

  2. On the Advanced delivery page, select the Phishing simulation tab, and then click Edit icon. Edit.

  3. In the Edit third-party phishing simulation flyout that opens, you add or remove entries for Domain, Sending IP, and Simulation URLs as described in the previous section.

    To remove all entries, click remove Remove icon. next to each value until there are no more domains, IPs, or URLs selected.

  4. When you're finished, click Save and then click Close.

Additional scenarios that require filtering bypass

In addition to the two scenarios that the advanced delivery policy can help you with, there are other scenarios where you might need to bypass filtering:

  • Third-party filters: If your domain's MX record doesn't point to Office 365 (messages are routed somewhere else first), secure by default is not available. If you'd like to add protection, you'll need to enable Enhanced Filtering for Connectors (also known as skip listing). For more information, see Manage mail flow using a third-party cloud service with Exchange Online. If you don't want Enhanced Filtering for Connectors, use mail flow rules (also known as transport rules) to bypass Microsoft filtering for messages that have already been evaluated by third-party filtering. For more information, see Use mail flow rules to set the SCL in messages.

  • False positives under review: You might want to temporarily allow certain messages that are still being analyzed by Microsoft via admin submissions to report known good messages that are incorrectly being marked as bad to Microsoft (false positives). As with all overrides, we highly recommended that these allowances are temporary.

PowerShell procedures for SecOps mailboxes in the advanced delivery policy

In PowerShell, the basic elements of SecOps mailboxes in the advanced delivery policy are:

  • The SecOps override policy: Controlled by the *-SecOpsOverridePolicy cmdlets.
  • The SecOps override rule: Controlled by the *-SecOpsOverrideRule cmdlets.

This behavior has the following results:

  • You create the policy first, then you create the rule that identifies the policy that the rule applies to.
  • When you remove a policy from PowerShell, the corresponding rule is also removed.
  • When you remove a rule from PowerShell, the corresponding policy is not removed. You need to remove the corresponding policy manually.

Use PowerShell to configure SecOps mailboxes

Configuring a SecOps mailbox in the advanced delivery policy in PowerShell is a two-step process:

  1. Create the SecOps override policy.
  2. Create the SecOps override rule that specifies the policy that the rule applies to.

Step 1: Use PowerShell to create the SecOps override policy

In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the following syntax:

New-SecOpsOverridePolicy -Name SecOpsOverridePolicy -SentTo <EmailAddress1>,<EmailAddress2>,...<EmailAddressN>

Note

Regardless of the Name value you specify, the policy name will be SecOpsOverridePolicy, so you might as well use that value.

This example creates the SecOps mailbox policy.

New-SecOpsOverridePolicy -Name SecOpsOverridePolicy -SentTo secops@contoso.com

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-SecOpsOverridePolicy.

Step 2: Use PowerShell to create the SecOps override rule

In Exchange Online PowerShell, run the following command:

New-SecOpsOverrideRule -Name SecOpsOverrideRule -Policy SecOpsOverridePolicy

Note

Regardless of the Name value you specify, the rule name will be SecOpsOverrideRule<GUID> where <GUID> is a unique GUID value (for example, 6fed4b63-3563-495d-a481-b24a311f8329).

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-SecOpsOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to view the SecOps override policy

In Exchange Online PowerShell, this example returns detailed information about the one and only SecOps mailbox policy.

Get-SecOpsOverridePolicy

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-SecOpsOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to view SecOps override rules

In Exchange Online PowerShell, this example returns detailed information about SecOps override rules.

Get-SecOpsOverrideRule

Although the previous command should return only one rule, any rules that are pending deletion might also be included in the results.

This example identifies the valid rule (one) and any invalid rules.

Get-SecOpsOverrideRule | Format-Table Name,Mode

After you identify the invalid rules, you can remove them by using the Remove-SecOpsOverrideRule cmdlet as described later in this article.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-SecOpsOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to modify the SecOps override policy

In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Set-SecOpsOverridePolicy -Identity SecOpsOverridePolicy [-AddSentTo <EmailAddress1>,<EmailAddress2>,...<EmailAddressN>] [-RemoveSentTo <EmailAddress1>,<EmailAddress2>,...<EmailAddressN>]

This example adds secops2@contoso.com to the SecOps override policy.

Set-SecOpsOverridePolicy -Identity SecOpsOverridePolicy -AddSentTo secops2@contoso.com

Note

If an associated, valid SecOps override rule exists, the email addresses in the rule will also be updated.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-SecOpsOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to modify a SecOps override rule

The Set-SecOpsOverrideRule cmdlet does not modify the email addresses in the SecOps override rule. To modify the email addresses in the SecOps override rule, use the Set-SecOpsOverridePolicy cmdlet.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-SecOpsOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to remove the SecOps override policy

In Exchange Online PowerShell, this example removes the SecOps Mailbox policy and the corresponding rule.

Remove-SecOpsOverridePolicy -Identity SecOpsOverridePolicy

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-SecOpsOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to remove SecOps override rules

In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Remove-SecOpsOverrideRule -Identity <RuleIdentity>

This example removes the specified SecOps override rule.

Remove-SecOpsOverrideRule -Identity SecOpsOverrideRule6fed4b63-3563-495d-a481-b24a311f8329

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-SecOpsOverrideRule.

PowerShell procedures for third-party phishing simulations in the advanced delivery policy

In PowerShell, the basic elements of third-party phishing simulations in the advanced delivery policy are:

  • The phishing simulation override policy: Controlled by the *-PhishSimOverridePolicy cmdlets.
  • The phishing simulation override rule: Controlled by the *-PhishSimOverrideRule cmdlets.
  • The allowed (unblocked) phishing simulation URLs: Controlled by the *-TenantAllowBlockListItems cmdlets.

This behavior has the following results:

  • You create the policy first, then you create the rule that identifies the policy that the rule applies to.
  • You modify the settings in the policy and the rule separately.
  • When you remove a policy from PowerShell, the corresponding rule is also removed.
  • When you remove a rule from PowerShell, the corresponding policy is not removed. You need to remove the corresponding policy manually.

Use PowerShell to configure third-party phishing simulations

Configuring a third-party phishing simulation in PowerShell is a multi-step process:

  1. Create the phishing simulation override policy.
  2. Create the phishing simulation override rule that specifies:
    • The policy that the rule applies to.
    • The source IP address of the phishing simulation messages.
  3. Optionally, identity the phishing simulation URLs that should be allowed (that is, not blocked or scanned).

Step 1: Use PowerShell to create the phishing simulation override policy

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, this example creates the phishing simulation override policy.

New-PhishSimOverridePolicy -Name PhishSimOverridePolicy

Note: Regardless of the Name value you specify, the policy name will be PhishSimOverridePolicy, so you might as well use that value.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-PhishSimOverridePolicy.

Step 2: Use PowerShell to create the phishing simulation override rule

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, use the following syntax:

New-PhishSimOverrideRule -Name PhishSimOverrideRule -Policy PhishSimOverridePolicy -Domains <Domain1>,<Domain2>,...<Domain10> -SenderIpRanges <IPAddressEntry1>,<IPAddressEntry2>,...<IPAddressEntry10>

Regardless of the Name value you specify, the rule name will be PhishSimOverrideRule<GUID> where <GUID> is a unique GUID value (for example, a0eae53e-d755-4a42-9320-b9c6b55c5011).

A valid IP address entry is one of the following values:

  • Single IP: For example, 192.168.1.1.
  • IP range: For example, 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254.
  • CIDR IP: For example, 192.168.0.1/25.

This example creates the phishing simulation override rule with the specified settings.

New-PhishSimOverrideRule -Name PhishSimOverrideRule -Policy PhishSimOverridePolicy -Domains fabrikam.com,wingtiptoys.com -SenderIpRanges 192.168.1.55

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-PhishSimOverrideRule.

Step 3: (Optional) Use PowerShell to identify the phishing simulation URLs to allow

In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the following syntax:

New-TenantAllowBlockListItems -Allow -ListType Url -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery -Entries "<URL1>","<URL2>",..."<URL10>" <[-NoExpiration] | [-ExpirationDate <DateTime>]>

For details about the URL syntax, see URL syntax for the Tenant Allow/Block List

This example adds a URL allow entry for the specified third-party phishing simulation URL with no expiration.

New-TenantAllowBlockListItems -Allow -ListType Url -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery -Entries *.fabrikam.com -NoExpiration

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-TenantAllowBlockListItems.

Use PowerShell to view the phishing simulation override policy

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, this example returns detailed information about the one and only phishing simulation override policy.

Get-PhishSimOverridePolicy

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-PhishSimOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to view phishing simulation override rules

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, this example returns detailed information about phishing simulation override rules.

Get-PhishSimOverrideRule

Although the previous command should return only one rule, any rules that are pending deletion might also be included in the results.

This example identifies the valid rule (one) and any invalid rules.

Get-PhishSimOverrideRule | Format-Table Name,Mode

After you identify the invalid rules, you can remove them by using the Remove-PhishSimOverrideRule cmdlet as described later in this article.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-PhishSimOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to view the allowed phishing simulation URL entries

In Exchange Online PowerShell, run the following command:

Get-TenantAllowBlockListItems -ListType Url -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-TenantAllowBlockListItems.

Use PowerShell to modify the phishing simulation override policy

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Set-PhishSimOverridePolicy -Identity PhishSimOverridePolicy [-Comment "<DescriptiveText>"] [-Enabled <$true | $false>]

This example disables the phishing simulation override policy.

Set-PhishSimOverridePolicy -Identity PhishSimOverridePolicy -Enabled $false

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-PhishSimOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to modify phishing simulation override rules

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Set-PhishSimOverrideRule -Identity PhishSimOverrideRulea0eae53e-d755-4a42-9320-b9c6b55c5011 [-Comment "<DescriptiveText>"] [-AddSenderDomainIs <DomainEntry1>,<DomainEntry2>,...<DomainEntryN>] [-RemoveSenderDomainIs <DomainEntry1>,<DomainEntry2>,...<DomainEntryN>] [-AddSenderIpRanges <IPAddressEntry1>,<IPAddressEntry2>,...<IPAddressEntryN>] [-RemoveSenderIpRanges <IPAddressEntry1>,<IPAddressEntry2>,...<IPAddressEntryN>]

This example modifies the specified phishing simulation override rule with the following settings:

  • Add the domain entry blueyonderairlines.com.
  • Remove the IP address entry 192.168.1.55.

Note that these changes don't affect existing entries.

Set-PhishSimOverrideRule -Identity PhishSimOverrideRulea0eae53e-d755-4a42-9320-b9c6b55c5011 -AddSenderDomainIs blueyonderairlines.com -RemoveSenderIpRanges 192.168.1.55

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-PhishSimOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to modify the allowed phishing simulation URL entries

You can't modify the URL values directly. You can remove existing URL entries and add new URL entries as described in this article.

In Exchange Online PowerShell, to modify other properties of an allowed phishing simulation URL entry (for example, the expiration date or comments), use the following syntax:

Set-TenantAllowBlockListItems <-Entries "<URL1>","<URL2>",..."<URLN>" | -Ids <Identity>> -ListType URL -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery <[-NoExpiration] | [-ExpirationDate <DateTime>]> [-Notes <String>]

You identify the entry to modify by its URL values (the Entries parameter) or the Identity value from the output of the Get-TenantAllowBlockListItems cmdlet (the Ids parameter).

This example modified the expiration date of the specified entry.

Set-TenantAllowBlockListItems -ListType Url -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery -Entries "*.fabrikam.com" -ExpirationDate 9/11/2021

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-TenantAllowBlockListItems.

Use PowerShell to remove a phishing simulation override policy

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, this example removes the phishing simulation override policy and the corresponding rule.

Remove-PhishSimOverridePolicy -Identity PhishSimOverridePolicy

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-PhishSimOverridePolicy.

Use PowerShell to remove phishing simulation override rules

In Security & Compliance PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Remove-PhishSimOverrideRule -Identity <RuleIdentity>

This example removes the specified phishing simulation override rule.

Remove-PhishSimOverrideRule -Identity PhishSimOverrideRulea0eae53e-d755-4a42-9320-b9c6b55c5011

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-PhishSimOverrideRule.

Use PowerShell to remove the allowed phishing simulation URL entries

In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the following syntax:

Remove-TenantAllowBlockListItems <-Entries "<URL1>","<URL2>",..."<URLN>" | -Ids <Identity>> -ListType URL -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery

You identify the entry to modify by its URL values (the Entries parameter) or the Identity value from the output of the Get-TenantAllowBlockListItems cmdlet (the Ids parameter).

This example modified the expiration date of the specified entry.

Remove-TenantAllowBlockListItems -ListType Url -ListSubType AdvancedDelivery -Entries "*.fabrikam.com" -ExpirationDate 9/11/2021

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-TenantAllowBlockListItems.