Microsoft has released a new feature for Office 365 allowing admins to prevent users from sending emails to blocked addresses.

The feature, called the Tenant Allow Block List, was previously only able to prevent users from receiving email from selected senders.

Microsoft is set to begin previewing the feature in July, and it will become generally available the same month.

The evolution of Office 365

With attack vectors such as phishing attacks remaining a hugely popular way to bypass antivirus software and carry out ID theft, this isn’t the only feature promising increased security which Microsoft has been able to roll out in prior months to its flagship email client.

The company also added a new security layer to the Office 365 email service as it looks to improve the integrity of the messages going in and out.

Microsoft says the new protection, SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS), a feature it first announced in H2 2020, will solve problems such as expired TLS certificates, problems with third-party certificates, or unsupported secure protocols.

Hopefully these features will pay dividends in terms of user security because the announcement comes as prices for Office 365 have risen across the board.

Since March 15 2022, Microsoft 365 Business Basic increased from $5 to $6 per user per year, Microsoft 365 Business Premium went from $20 to $22, Office 365 E1 went from $8 to $10, Office 365 E3 went from $20 to $23, Office 365 E5 went from $35 to $38, and Microsoft 365 E3 went from $32 to $36.

It’s easy to see why Microsoft might be looking to tighten up the security of its email services, enterprises could be even more vulnerable than originally thought to email-based attacks according to a recent BitDam study (opens in new tab) which showed that malicious files often regularly bypass many supposed top email security solutions.