What is Shield?
What's the correct way to use Shield?
Interact with your mailbox as you would naturally! We provide accommodations for various styles, ranging from those who'd like to spend their time entirely in the mailbox to those who would like to interact heavily with the portal and anything in between. The important thing is that it should feel natural and intuitive for how you most comfortably use email. If you ever find that isn't the case, let us know!
Previously, I used [a feature] a lot in CloudFilter and other email filtering solutions; where is that feature in Shield?
Due to Shield's novel approach, this likely will be one of our most common questions. There isn't a 1:1 match for many features you're accustomed to seeing in other products. This is because, in many cases, the need for that feature has been eliminated. In other cases, the feature has been rolled into a more extensive, intuitive feature set you won't need to seek out and engage with deliberately. Instead, you may have already been using it this whole time without knowing it. That said, a valuable perspective is to ask, "With the experience I've had so far with Shield, do I still need that feature?" We hope that the answer to that question will often be no, but if you find a gap in functionality, please feel free to contact us so that we can look into improvements in that area.
Is Shield learning from my interactions?
It is! Shield has a variety of functions built into it, both from a design and technical aspect, that enable it to gradually adapt to a user's preferences and individual needs as they interact with the mailbox. The best way to approach this is to not worry too much about doing specific things to "train" Shield. Instead, you can use your mailbox normally, and Shield will do the rest.
How do I report false positives?
False positives are another case where simply interacting with your mailbox and the Shield portal, as usual, will be all that's needed! If a message was sent to junk, moving it to your inbox will provide Shield feedback that the message was wanted. If the message is still blocked after moving to the inbox, then viewing the X-ray for that message will provide more insight. If the email is jailed, you'll have an opportunity to "veto" the decision and provide another layer of feedback for the result.
Shield already has a trust for an address, but I never added it. Why is that?
Shield looks at your mailbox activity during initial synchronization and on an ongoing basis to determine if trust is needed. As a general guideline, if your Sent folder includes a message you sent to an address, you should see a trust for that address, as long as you haven't changed that trust to silence or delete it. Also, any coworkers within your same domain, as well as addresses for your IT service provider, are added to your trust network.
Does Shield have allow and block lists?
Shield does not have an allow or block list. However, users can trust or silence senders or entire domains. The risk level associated with an individual message, along with any other health checks of the sending environment, will influence its delivery. Workflows can be used to override these checks, but should be used sparingly. Workflows allow Shield Admins to route messages based on conditions, without declaring a sender “always safe.” Even when a message is routed to the inbox, Shield’s risk analysis and visibility stay intact.
Will Shield ever be added for Google Workspace or on-premises Exchange?
At present, we only have plans for the Microsoft 365 implementation of Shield. However, we are watching demand to determine whether a Google Workspace version would be of value. Your feedback can help assess that demand. Regarding on-premises Exchange, due to Shield's use of the API to interact with the mailbox and Exchange Online environment, a full-featured Shield implementation for on-premises won't be possible.
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