Overview
Many phishing emails contain links. Malicious senders try to convince the recipients to click on links to redirect them to a malicious site. Therefore you should always be careful with links in emails - even if the email seems to be coming from your colleague.
How to check the URL behind a link?
Depending on the device you are using there are few different ways you can check the destination address of any link. Please follow the guidelines below or consult with your IT or Security team for assistance.
Want to find out the destination URL of a Short URL? Please check this article.
Note: The following instructions assume you are using Outlook (desktop, mobile) or browser (OWA, Gmail).
Desktop Outlook (Windows, MacOS)
Hover your mouse pointer over the link. A small tooltip appears under the link and displays the actual destination URL.
Web browser (OWA, Gmail)
Hover your mouse pointer over the link. The actual destination URL will display at the bottom of the browser window.
If you still can't see the link, check the documentation of your web browser.
Outlook on Apple devices (iOS, iPadOS)
Lightly press and hold the link with your finger. A pop-up dialog opens and displays the actual destination URL.
Side note about 3D Touch: Some iPhone models (iPhone 6S to iPhone XR) had a feature called 3D Touch. It allowed the user to preview the site behind a link in some Apps like Safari and Messages. By lightly pressing and holding a finger over a link a preview dialog would open. This behavior is a bit problematic when you only want to see the destination URL. Fortunately there is a way to disable the preview by tapping Hide preview in the Preview dialog.
Note: Outlook Mobile App will never show a preview for the link no matter how long or hard you press the link.
Outlook on Android devices
Lightly press and hold the link with your finger. A pop-up dialog opens and displays the actual destination URL.
Note: As there are a multitude of devices using Android, they might contain special technology that affects the way links can be previewed. Please check the documentation of your device for further information.