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Microsoft 365

Understanding Microsoft 365 Mail Flow Status and Threat Protection Status Reports

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As a Microsoft 365 administrator, having visibility into how your organization’s emails are delivered and secured is essential. Microsoft 365 provides rich reporting capabilities in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and Exchange Admin Center (EAC) to help you monitor and act on mail flow and threat data. Two of the most critical reports are:

  • Mail Flow Status Summary Report
  • Threat Protection Status Report

Let’s break down what each report provides, where to find it, and how it can help keep your environment secure and running smoothly.

📬 Mail Flow Status Summary Report

📍 Where to Find It:

You can access the Mail Flow Status Report via the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) under Mail Flow > Message Trace, or through Microsoft 365 Defender portal under Email & collaboration > Reports > Mail flow.

📊 What It Shows:

This report gives a high-level overview of email traffic in and out of your organization. You’ll see metrics such as:

  • Total Email Volume (Inbound & Outbound)
  • Accepted / Rejected Messages
  • Deferred Messages
  • Spam Detection and Filtering Events
  • Top senders/recipients
  • Mail delivery times and issues

🛠 Why It Matters:

Mail flow insights help you:

  • Detect and troubleshoot delivery delays or failures.
  • Monitor if your outbound mail is being rejected by external domains (useful for identifying blacklisting or SPF/DKIM issues).
  • Understand patterns in email traffic that could indicate abuse or policy violations.

Pro Tip: Use the Message Trace tool for deep dives into specific email paths, delays, or rejections.

🛡 Threat Protection Status Report

📍 Where to Find It:

You’ll find the Threat Protection Status report in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal at Email & collaboration > Reports > Threat protection status.

🔍 What It Shows:

This report provides a centralized view of security events related to email. It includes:

  • Malware Detected
  • Phishing Attempts
  • Spam and Bulk Mail
  • Spoofing and Impersonation Activity
  • ZAP (Zero-hour Auto Purge) actions
  • Messages blocked/quarantined by Defender policies

You can filter the data by date, delivery status, action taken, or detection technology (e.g., Anti-Phishing, Anti-Malware, Safe Links, Safe Attachments).

🔐 Why It Matters:

Understanding threat trends helps you:

  • Validate that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is protecting users as expected.
  • Identify targeted phishing campaigns.
  • Adjust your policies proactively (e.g., modifying Safe Links or Anti-Phishing policies).
  • Report to stakeholders on security posture and email hygiene.

Pro Tip: Regularly reviewing this report can help you demonstrate the value of your email protection investment and guide future enhancements.

🚦 Best Practices for Using These Reports

  1. Schedule Regular Reviews: Set a bi-weekly or monthly cadence to review these reports as part of your security operations.
  2. Correlate Data: Combine mail flow issues with threat data to understand if issues are due to misconfiguration or attacks.
  3. Automate Alerts: Use Microsoft Defender alert policies or Power Automate to notify you of anomalies (e.g., sudden spike in malware).
  4. Use APIs and Power BI: Leverage the Microsoft Graph Security API or Office 365 Management APIs to bring data into Power BI for custom dashboards.