[Help] Web Protection not working on links from Outlook app

AlFifi_Defender · 2025-07-09T16:23:05+00:00

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Hello dear Bitdefender Community and Team, 👋

I hope you’re all doing great.

I’ve been using Bitdefender Mobile Security on Android, and everything is working perfectly — including Web Protection, which is active and fully enabled (with all required permissions granted, as shown in the screenshot below).

However, I’ve noticed that:

When I
click a link inside the Outlook app
, Bitdefender doesn’t block or scan it — even if it’s a known malicious site. It just opens without warning or any web protection alert.

This doesn’t happen in Chrome or Samsung Internet — only in Outlook.

❓ My Questions:

Is Web Protection expected to monitor and filter links coming from email clients like Outlook?
Or is protection limited to browser activity only?
If it’s a limitation, would you consider expanding coverage to email-based links in future updates?

I’m a huge fan of Bitdefender and very grateful for what the team is doing 🙏Thank you for your amazing work!

Best regards,AlFifi_Defender 🇸🇦“Together we shield smarter.”

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Comments

Flanksy

Good Day @AlFifi_Defender ,

Based on what I have checked with Bitdefender Support, The Web Protection would act up on any link that you would open - but when it comes to it being in the email, you'd be not notified beforehand if it's dangerous. Only that if it is, then the antivirus would you let you know and you can continue at your own risk.

More so the Web Protection is meant to be functional over your browser - but regardless, if you open any link, still, it's going to bring up your browser.

I look forward to your warm reply.

Best Regards,

Flanksy✌️

AlFifi_Defender

Hello dear @Flanksy 👋,

Thank you so much for the prompt and detailed response – I truly appreciate your time and support. 🙏

Your explanation does clarify the intended scope of Web Protection – mainly focusing on browser-based filtering. However, I find this behavior a bit inconsistent from a user’s perspective, especially considering the increasing number of phishing links embedded in email clients like Outlook.

If the Outlook app opens links directly in an internal web viewer (instead of the system browser), wouldn’t that bypass Web Protection completely? 🤔

That might explain why no Bitdefender warning appears at all – not even a browser redirect.

🔍 If that’s the case, I’d love to suggest the following for the product team:

1.Consider monitoring such in-app web viewers (like Outlook’s) or at least provide an alert that the link is being opened outside the protected browser environment.

2.Optionally allow users to force such links to open in Chrome/Samsung Internet to stay within the protection scope.

Again, thank you for your time and assistance – it’s always a pleasure discussing things in this amazing community. 🙌

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Best regards,

AlFifi_Defender 🇸🇦

“Together we shield smarter.

Flanksy

Hi @AlFifi_Defender ,

Good day to you and thank you for your warm response. I believe you didn't fully get what I mean't about the web viewer part. But no worries let me elaborate for you.

Based on the incidents that you have provided, any links will automatically be open on the default browsing app on android (chrome, edge, samsung internet, etc) will be monitored and blocked by web protection if its deemed malicious. In this case if you are saying that it is opening in outlook, there should be an option which allows you to select the default browsing app when you click a link in outlook, in which this will be on Outlooks side. In this case then Bitdefenders web protection will then intercept the link to check if its malicious or not. I will also provide you the link below from microsoft website to the steps to set the default web browser of your choice. As for the alert, yes the Bitdefender Web Protection does immediately alert you if you did click a link which is malicious real time given that you have opened it in a browser (which is supported under the web protection tab of your Bitdefender Mobile Security)

When it comes to the internal web browser, based on what the support has gotten to me yesterday and in my point of view, I would say that to my understanding on what the support did say, even tho if the web protection wasn't able to update you if the link is malicious or now and should you have clicked it for example, say if it was malicious and started to sideload an app code etc, this is when the Bitdefender Antivirus will come into play to intecept and quarantine/delete the file/app so either way, you are still secured and it will also give you a prompt telling you of the incident.

Below are the link on the steps to set the default app on outlook app:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choosing-how-you-want-to-open-links-in-outlook-mobile-apps-a39a7731-2ebc-406b-9575-eaa7f28fa6ac

I have also attached the Bitdefender Link Checker below for you should you need to crosscheck the links if its safe or not:

https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/consumer/link-checker

I hope this does help you with your issue and then again, I look forward to your reply and hope it helps you on this.

Best Regards,

Flanksy✌️

AlFifi_Defender

Hello again @Flanksy 💙,

Thanks again for the excellent support — always a pleasure hearing back from you and learning more about how Bitdefender works under the hood. 🛡️

Your reply helped clarify a lot, and I now understand the role of the default browser setting much better. I’ll definitely review the Outlook app’s settings and make sure it opens links externally, as you suggested. That should allow Bitdefender Web Protection to properly kick in and scan the URLs. 👌

Also, I truly appreciate the link to the Microsoft support article and the Bitdefender Link Checker — very thoughtful of you. 🍉💚

It’s amazing how well Bitdefender layers its security — from browser filtering to real-time malware blocking — it really shows the team’s dedication to keeping users safe no matter the entry point. 🔐💜

Please keep up the great work. I’m honored to be part of this community and will continue sharing everything I learn here. 💗🩵💙❤️

Warm regards,

AlFifi_Defender 🇸🇦

“Together we shield smarter.