2.5.10.6.1.5 Ensure 'Use Unicode format when dragging e-mail message to file system' is set to 'Disabled'

Information

This policy setting controls whether e-mail messages dragged from Outlook to the file system are saved in Unicode or ANSI format.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.

Rationale:

Unicode text is vulnerable to homograph attacks, in which characters are replaced by different but similar-looking characters. For example, the Cyrillic letter ? (U+0430) appears identical to the Latin letter a (U+0061) in many typefaces, but is actually a different character. Homographs can be used in 'phishing' attacks to convince victims to visit fraudulent Web sites and enter sensitive information.

Impact:

ANSI file encoding may limit the overall size a .msg file can reach, although a single mail item should not be of concern.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2016\Outlook Options\Other\Advanced\Use Unicode format when dragging e-mail message to file system

Default Value:

Enabled. (Outlook uses Unicode character encoding.)

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/12129

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: f58cd414d59e3a83f6e6f8850c8914b2994c03cd343f541315ca2a3fe3bf983d