University at Buffalo (UB)
Restricted Data Notifications in Outlook
If you compose an email in Microsoft Outlook that includes potentially sensitive information (like a credit card or Social Security Number), you may receive a notification, and the message may be protected by the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) security feature.
Category 1 restricted data should never be sent through email. However, If you accidentally send an email that includes Category 1 restricted data, you will receive an email notification that restricted data was detected. The email will detail which data classification was detected. Your email will still be delivered to the recipient.
Category 1 Data being scanned
- U.S. Social Security Number (SSN)
- Credit Card Number
- U.S. / U.K. Passport Number
- U.S. Bank Account Number
- U.S. Driver's License Number
- Canada Bank Account Number
- Canada Passport Number
- Canada Social Insurance Number
What you see if you send Category 1 Data with Microsoft Purview DLP enabled
Applies to: People using Windows Outlook desktop client
Important: individuals using UBmail should not be sending category 1 data.
1. When using Outlook to compose a message with Category 1 Data, you will notice a policy tip above the header information.
.2. You will receive an acknowledgement window when you click send. Select Send Anyway
What a recipient sees if you send Category 1 Data
- If the recipient is using Exchange Online on an official Microsoft Outlook client, the message is decrypted automatically and displayed like any other email
- External recipients not using Exchange Online will receive a notification that they’ve been sent a protected message and will need to sign in to retrieve it:
1. Click Read the message
2. Sign in to view the message
Known issues
- When using a digital signature, you will receive Category 1 alerts, but the message will not send encrypted.
- Outlook Classic will not display encrypted messages, with attachments, for messages sent to a shared mailbox. Please use New Outlook or the web version.
False Positives
Submit false positives to microsoft-data-protection@buffalo.edu
See also
Need more help with technology at UB?
Contact the UBIT Help Center.