Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• How to Block/Allow senders for your inbox?

  Click here to learn more about how to block/allow senders to your inbox.

• What is Abnormal AI?

  Abnormal is an advanced email protection platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to detect and prevent email-based threats such as phishing, business email compromise (BEC) and account takeover.

   

  Unlike traditional email filters, Abnormal understands what "normal" looks like across your email environment – from communication patterns to login behaviors. By detecting anomalies, Abnormal can stop threats before they reach your inbox, helping protect personal data, university systems and financial assets.

• Why are we using Abnormal?

  OSU receives a large volume of phishing attacks every day. These messages:

  • Disrupt academic and administrative work
  • Fool experienced users with increasingly sophisticated tactics
  • Can result in compromised accounts, data breaches and stolen paychecks
  • Require time-consuming recovery efforts, disrupting work or study significantly

  Abnormal provides a smarter, automated way to detect and stop these threats. It analyzes:

  • Suspicious links and attachments
  • Unusual login locations or access patterns
  • Changes in email content, tone or behavior
  • Alterations to inbox rules and mail forwarding

  This enables faster responses to threats, minimizing impact and improving security for everyone across the university.

• How does Abnormal impact users?

  Abnormal is integrated with Microsoft 365 and automatically detects and removes malicious email from a user's inbox – often within milliseconds of delivery. You may notice:

  • Fewer phishing or suspicious emails
  • Occasional instances where a message appears, then disappears
  • No more daily spam digests or manual quarantine review

  Although protection is improved, you should continue to report suspicious messages to help further enhance our threat detection capabilities.

• Should I be concerned with disappearing messages?

  No – this behavior is normal. Abnormal reviews emails in a secure processing environment after delivery. If it determines a message is malicious, it removes it automatically. If you're watching your inbox closely, you may briefly see a message appear and then disappear.

   

  If you’re unsure, contact the OSU IT Helpdesk for confirmation.

• What should I do about expected messages that never arrived?

  On rare occasions, legitimate emails may be flagged by the system.

   

  Before contacting the IT Helpdesk, please first check the following folders in your email:

  • Promotions (created by Abnormal to filter marketing and bulk email)
  • Junk E-mail (Microsoft's built-in spam filtering folder)

  If you still cannot locate the email, please open a ticket with the IT Helpdesk and include the following information:

  • Sender's email address
  • Subject line
  • Approximate date/time the email was sent

  The IT team will review the message's status and retrieve it if appropriate. Abnormal will also learn from this feedback to improve future accuracy.

• What should I do about suspicious emails?

  If you're using Outlook with Microsoft 365:

  • Select the suspicious email
  • Click the "Report Message" button in the toolbar.
  • Choose Phishing or Spam, as appropriate.

   

  This forwards the message to Enterprise IT's security team and helps improve protection for everyone.

• What is Graymail? 

  Graymail refers to messages that aren’t quite spam but aren’t always wanted—like newsletters, ads and bulk announcements. Oklahoma State University uses Abnormal Security to help manage Graymail by filtering these messages into a special folder called Promotions.

• What is the Promotions folder? 

  The Promotions folder is created in your mailbox to hold messages that Abnormal has identified as potentially non-critical or promotional. This helps keep your Inbox clean and focused on more important communications.

   

  You can train the system to improve its accuracy by moving messages in or out of the Promotions folder.

• How do I train my Promotions folder?

  Abnormal AI automatically organizes promotional and bulk messages—also called Graymail—into the Promotions folder to help keep your Inbox focused on important emails. You can personalize this sorting by moving messages between your Inbox and the Promotions folder:

  • Move a message from Promotions to Inbox: This tells Abnormal that similar messages are important to you and should appear in your Inbox in the future.
  • Move a message from Inbox to Promotions: This tells Abnormal that similar messages are less important and should be routed to Promotions.

  Abnormal tracks these folder movements and updates its sorting algorithms automatically.

  Note: The learning process is based on recent messages. Only messages moved within approximately 7 days of receipt are tracked for personalization. Older messages will not affect how future emails are sorted.

  Training occurs continuously as you move messages, and improvements usually take effect within a few hours to a day. The more consistently you organize your emails, the more accurately Abnormal AI will learn your preferences and keep your Inbox organized.

• How long does Promotions training take? 

  Abnormal learns from user behavior in near real-time. Filter improvements may take a few hours to a day to reflect. The more consistently you train it, the better it gets.

• Can I remove or disable the Promotions folder?

  By default, no. The Promotions folder is part of our university-wide Graymail filtering system, which helps reduce clutter and ensure your Inbox stays focused on what matters. We recommend keeping the folder in place and training it to reflect your personal preferences over time.

  If you prefer not to use the Promotions folder, you can opt out by Contacting the OSU IT Helpdesk.

• I accidentally deleted the Promotions folder. What should I do?

  If you delete the promotions folder, all promotional emails will still be filtered there, but the folder itself will now appear inside your Deleted Items folder.

   

  If you wish to move it back to your inbox:

  1. In Outlook, go to your Deleted Items folder.
  2. Find the Promotionsfolder inside.
  3. Right-click on the Promotionsfolder and choose Move > Other Folder
  4. Select your top-level mailbox folder (usually your email address) and click OK

  If you hard delete (permanently delete) the Promotions folder, Abnormal AI will automatically recreate it the next time it filters a message. If it doesn't reappear within a day, please reach out to the IT Helpdesk for assistance.

• Important messages keep going to Promotions. What should I do?
  • Move them to your Inbox. This tells the system they are important.
  • If it keeps happening, contact the IT Helpdesk and we can assist with fine-tuning.
• How do I spot and report malicious emails?

  Malicious emails remain the most common method in cyberattacks. These include phishing messages, fake job scams, financial fraud and malware-laden attachments.

   

  Learn how to:

  • Protect yourself from common threats
  • Recognize suspicious messages
  • Report phishing and fraud effectively

  Visit: Malicious Emails and Financial Scams