In short: Hornetsecurity Teams Protection scans Microsoft Teams messages that contain links and, when a link is malicious, has the AI Cyber Assistant bot post a warning in the conversation. Administrators can delete conversations containing malicious messages and stop the sender signing in to Teams. It is included in 365 Total Protection Plan 4.
What Teams Protection is
Attackers follow users. As more conversations move from email to Microsoft Teams, phishing links arrive in chats too: from external organisations if your Teams is open to them, or from an internal account that has already been compromised. Email security does not see these messages, and staff tend to trust a chat from a colleague more than an email.
Teams Protection closes that gap. It is one of three services powered by Hornetsecurity's AI Cyber Assistant, with AI Recipient Validation and AI Email Security Analyst, and is included in 365 Total Protection Plan 4.
How it works
Teams Protection scans Teams messages that contain URLs, to protect your tenant from compromised accounts. If a link is malicious, the AI Cyber Assistant bot posts a warning straight into the conversation, so everyone in the chat sees it.
| Technique | What it looks at |
|---|---|
| Smart patterns | Key features of URLs and pages, such as redirections, file paths and scripts |
| Machine learning | Supervised and unsupervised models that analyse many characteristics of URLs and pages, including obfuscation and redirects |
| Computer vision | Images used in phishing pages, such as brand logos, QR codes and embedded text |
These are the same detection methods used in Hornetsecurity's Secure Links for email, part of Advanced Threat Protection.
Administrators can then delete entire conversations containing malicious messages and prevent the sender from signing in to Teams, which contains a compromised internal account quickly. An optional Auto-Remediate setting deletes a newly created chat automatically when it contains a malicious message.
How it is licensed
Hornetsecurity offers Teams Protection as part of 365 Total Protection Plan 4, licensed per user, rather than as a separate product.
| Option | Includes Teams Protection |
|---|---|
| 365 Total Protection Plans 1 to 3 | No |
| 365 Total Protection Plan 4 | Yes |
If your users rely on Teams as much as email, compare your current plan with Plan 4, which also brings the other AI Cyber Assistant services, DMARC Manager, 365 Permission Manager and the Security Awareness Service.
Requirements and deployment
Teams Protection needs Microsoft Teams in a Microsoft 365 tenant covered by Plan 4. It works in the background and posts its warnings in the chat through the AI Cyber Assistant bot, so there is nothing for users to install and no change to how people use Teams.
Review your Teams external access settings at the same time: limiting which outside organisations can chat with your users reduces the risk Teams Protection has to deal with.
Who it suits and how we help
Teams Protection suits organisations where Teams is the main way staff communicate, those that chat with external partners and clients in Teams, and anyone who has already seen a compromised account used to send links internally. See Microsoft 365 security for the wider picture.
We switch it on as part of Plan 4, decide with you whether to use Auto-Remediate, and agree who acts on alerts about compromised accounts. Ask us for a quote.
How Forever Systems supplies your software licences
Forever Systems Ltd supplies business software subscriptions to UK organisations from one account, with one monthly invoice and a UK team who know the products.
- The right edition first time: we check what you need before you buy, so you are not paying for features you will never use
- Monthly or annual terms where the vendor offers them, and help timing renewals and commitments
- Licence changes handled for you: add or remove users, upgrade editions and true-up without starting a new contract
- Deployment and support from engineers who run these products every day, not just a reseller account
- Consolidated billing and renewal reminders so nothing lapses unexpectedly
We work with businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations of all sizes.
Need a licence quote or a second opinion on your renewal?
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Contact usFrequently asked questions
What does Hornetsecurity Teams Protection do?
It scans links shared in Microsoft Teams chats, posts a warning in the conversation if a link is malicious, and lets administrators delete the conversation and stop the sender signing in to Teams.
Does Teams Protection scan files as well as links?
Hornetsecurity describes Teams Protection as scanning messages that contain URLs; it does not describe file scanning. Files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, which 365 Total Backup in Plans 3 and 4 backs up.
Is Teams Protection included in 365 Total Protection?
It is included in Plan 4 Compliance and Awareness. It is not part of Plans 1 to 3.