The University of Bedfordshire uses KnowBe4 (formerly Egress) to help protect incoming and outgoing emails. The platform works in the background to identify potentially harmful emails and help prevent sensitive information from being sent to the wrong recipients.
KnowBe4 provides two key tools:
On mobile devices where the Outlook add-in is unavailable, KnowBe4 Prevent uses a different process to notify you of potential risks.
For more information about both tools, including how KnowBe4 Prevent works on mobile devices, see How KnowBe4 protects your emails below.
Explore the interactive demonstration and short videos below to see how KnowBe4 Defend and Prevent work.
Explore an interactive demonstration showing how KnowBe4 Defend highlights suspicious emails and potential phishing indicators.
Try the interactive inbox demonstration
Watch this video to learn what the different incoming email warnings mean, how KnowBe4 Defend protects you when you click a link, and how to report suspicious emails.
Watch this video to learn how KnowBe4 Prevent identifies potential risks in outgoing emails and helps prevent messages from being sent to the wrong recipients.
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Expand the sections below to learn how KnowBe4 protects incoming and outgoing emails, including how KnowBe4 Prevent works on mobile devices.
KnowBe4 Defend scans incoming emails to identify potentially suspicious or malicious content. Coloured warning banners may appear at the top of emails to highlight potential threats, including phishing attempts, impersonation and spam.
These banners help you assess an email before clicking links, opening attachments or replying.
Banners you might see on incoming emails |
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Productivity banners are grey and are applied to emails that Defend classifies as graymail or spam. |
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Non-malicious bulk emails such as newsletters, announcements, or advertisements |
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Benign banners are blue and are informative alerts that are not associated with detected threats. These banners increase awareness and help you make informed decisions about handling an email. While no immediate action is usually necessary, the information provided can be valuable for assessing the email's relevance and importance. |
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The email originates from outside your organization. Care should be taken in case the email is impersonating a University of Bedfordshire employee |
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Email from someone who has never emailed you before. Care should be taken that this is a legitimate email and not an impersonation attempt. |
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Email includes content that may be considered sensitive. Consider carefully before forwarding email to colleagues or students. |
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Email contains financial information or references E.g. care should be taken if the sender is asking for a change of payment details. |
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Suspicious banners are amber and are applied to emails that contain suspicious elements, potentially indicating phishing or impersonation attempts.
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An attacker may be trying to get your account information via a link or an attachment |
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A user may pretend to be a member of University of Bedfordshire staff, but the email may be different |
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Dangerous banners are red and are applied to emails exhibiting strong indicators of phishing or other malicious intent.
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An attacker may be trying to get your account information via a link or an attachment or other methods |
KnowBe4 Prevent works with Microsoft Outlook to help prevent emails and sensitive information from being sent to the wrong recipients.
The system checks outgoing emails for potential risks, such as incorrect email addresses, unexpected recipients or sensitive attachments. If a potential issue is detected, a warning prompt, known as a nudge, asks you to review the email before sending it.
Nudges you might see when sending emails |
What it means |
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Sent to recipients not normally included in similar communications. Check all the email addresses should be included. |
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Recipient address appears to be a misspelled version of a known contact. Check spelling before sending. |
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Email greeting does not match the recipient’s address. Check you have selected you have selected the correct email address and it matches the name at the top of the email. |
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Large number of recipients included in To or CC fields. Check that all the people in the list should see the information. |
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Email sent to a personal or webmail address. Check this address is correct before sending. |
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Email sent to a new external recipient. Double-check you have the correct spelling, as it is a new email address. |
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Email sent to multiple external domains. Check that all the people in the list should see the information. |
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Reply sent to an address impersonating a known contact. This may be a phishing attempt. Double-check the email address is correct before sending. |
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Email sent to a recently registered domain. New domains often impersonate legitimate domains and a real well-known company would likely have been running their domain for a much longer period. |
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Email sent to a domain with a malicious reputation. Please contact the ICT Service Desk for advice. |
On mobile devices where the KnowBe4 Email Security Outlook add-in is not available, KnowBe4 Prevent will alert you to potential risks by email.
After sending an email from your mobile device, look out for a message from Egress Moderator if a potential issue has been detected.
The message will summarise the potential risk and give you two options:
Send Anyway – If you have reviewed the warning and are happy that the email and its contents are correct, select this option to allow the email to be sent.
Don't Send – Select this option to cancel the email and prevent it from being sent.
If you do neither of these, the email will automatically send after two hours.
If you need to correct something before sending the email, go to your Sent Items, find the original message and select Reply All. Make the necessary corrections before sending the email again, including remove the "Re:" on the subject line.
Always read the warning carefully before choosing an option. If you are unsure whether it is safe to send the email, choose Don't Send.
The example below shows what a KnowBe4 Prevent notification looks like on a mobile device.
Find answers to common questions about KnowBe4, including incoming email warnings, outgoing email checks and how to get help.
KnowBe4 (formerly Egress) is the University's email security platform. It provides two tools:
KnowBe4 Defend adds coloured warning banners to incoming emails to highlight potentially suspicious content, such as phishing attempts, impersonation, spam or sensitive information.
These banners help you assess an email before clicking links, opening attachments or replying.
KnowBe4 Defend uses four banner colours:
For further details and examples, expand the Incoming email security (KnowBe4 Defend) section above and see Examples of incoming email banners.
If you receive an email with an amber or red warning banner:
For both warning types, use the Report button to report the email immediately. Once reported, delete it from your inbox unless instructed otherwise by the ICT team.
KnowBe4 Prevent checks outgoing emails for potential risks, including incorrect recipients, unusual sending patterns and sensitive information.
If a potential issue is detected, you'll receive a warning prompt, known as a nudge, asking you to review the email before sending it.
KnowBe4 Prevent may display a warning if:
Review the warning carefully and check the relevant details before proceeding.
For further details and examples, expand the Outgoing email security (KnowBe4 Prevent) section above and see Examples of outgoing email warnings.
KnowBe4 Prevent checks outgoing emails for potential risks before they're sent. These checks should normally take only a few seconds.
Keep the email open while it's being checked. If your email becomes stuck or doesn't send, contact the ICT Service Desk.
See the Need help? section below for contact details.
If you experience technical issues with KnowBe4 Defend or Prevent, or receive a severe security warning, contact the ICT Service Desk during office hours.
See the Need help? section below for contact details.
If you need help with KnowBe4 Defend or Prevent, please contact the ICT Service Desk (office hours only) on 01582 743366 or log a ticket at uobservicedesk.beds.ac.uk
