How can I report phishing emails using the Phish Alert Button?

Overview

The KnowBe4 Phish Alert Button (PAB) allows members of the UIC community to quickly report suspicious or phishing emails directly from Outlook. Reported emails are automatically forwarded to the UIC Cybersecurity team for analysis and remediation, helping protect both individual users and the university from potential threats.

Before You Begin

This Phish Alert button is currently only available to some faculty and staff. If you do not see the Phish Alert button in your Outlook client, please follow the standard instructions at How do I report a suspicious or threatening email?

Table Of Contents

How to Use the Phish Alert Button

In the Outlook Desktop App:

  1. Select the email you would like to report.
  2. Select the Phish Alert button from the Add-ins section of the ribbon.

    Phish Alert button in red circle
     
  3. A Phish Alert panel will open.
  4. Select the blue Phish Alert button.

    Phish alert pop-up screen with report button circled in red
     
  5. A message will appear confirming that you reported the email.

 In the Outlook Mobile App for Android:

  1. Open the email that you would like to report.
  2. Select the vertical ellipsis icon (...). 

    Email with red arrow pointing to ellipses
     
  3. Select the Phish Alert icon.

    Email with red arrow pointing to phish alert button
     
  4. In the pop-up window that opens, select Phish Alert to report the email. You may also select an Email Classification and leave a comment.

    Arrow pointing to Phish alert button in pop-up
     
  5. A message will be displayed confirming that you reported the email.
     

In the Outlook Mobile App for Apple iOS:

  1. Open the email that you would like to report.
  2. Select the ellipsis icon (…).

    Email with red arrow to ellipses
     
  3. Select the Phish Alert icon.

    Pop up with red arrow pointing to phish alert button
     
  4. In the pop-up window that opens, select Phish Alert again to report the email. You may also select an Email Classification and leave a comment.

    Phish alert pop up with red arrow pointing to phish button
  5. A message will appear to confirm that you reported the email.

Email Analysis and Classification

When you report an email using the Phish Alert Button (PAB), the message is automatically analyzed and classified by the system.

Threat Email

If the email is identified as malicious, you will receive a notification from noreply@uic.edu indicating that the message was classified as a threat.

Spam Email

If the email is identified as spam, you will receive a notification from noreply@uic.edu indicating that the message was classified as spam. The original email will be included as an attachment to the notification.

Clean Email

If the email is determined to be safe, you will receive a notification from noreply@uic.edu indicating that the message was classified as clean. The original email will be included as an attachment to the notification.

Unknown Classification

If the system cannot confidently determine whether an email is a threat, spam, or clean, the message will be escalated to a security analyst for manual review.

During the review process, no automated notification will be sent. Once the analyst has completed their assessment, the email will be assigned a classification and any necessary actions will be taken.

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