Users are urging Microsoft to rethink how it displays sender email addresses in Outlook as phishing criminals exploit helpful, friendly names to send emails loaded with malicious intent.
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The issue has been rumbling for a while, attracting more than 100 votes in Microsoft's support forums. It's not a bug per se, but a "feature" that annoys administrators and allows fraudsters to sneak past one line of defense – the user.
The issue is related to how a list of emails is displayed. Outlook will display the friendly name if it can, rather than the actual address of the sender. In some service iterations, the hover over the name shows the actual address, but in others, a user must open the email to see relevant information.
The opportunities for scammers and phishing attacks are clear. An email may appear legitimate in a user's inbox, and the same user may therefore click on a malicious link after opening it.
