Microsoft Teams will now let companies block people for good — so you'd better behave

There could soon be even more good reasons to behave on your Microsoft Teams work calls after the platform revealed a new update aimed at stamping out troublemakers.

The video conferencing tool is working on a new feature which will allow admins to permanently block a user from a workspace or organization.

Primarily meant as a cybersecurity protection, the tool could also help stamp out any users who are mis-using the platform, or help block those who have left an organization and may still be seeking access for nefarious purposes.

Microsoft Teams blocks

In the Microsoft 365 roadmap post outlining the feature, the company notes the current delete API for Teams does not stop a user from resending a message to someone, potentially meaning the risk still remains.

However, the platform will now boost its block API to allow admins to stop a user from reaching out again at all. Microsoft will also look to use a similar feature to the current allow/block list to stop any malicious users from accessing the entire organization - essentially locking them out for good.

The feature is currently listed as being in development, with a scheduled rollout start date of October 2024. When released, it will be available across Microsoft Teams users on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.

Microsoft Teams itself has remained a fairly secure platform for users, despite its widespread popularity in workplaces across the world, where people can often be a little lax when it comes to online protection.

However it has suffered its share of security worries - in June 2023, researchers discovered a way to inject malware into an organization's network from a Teams account by leveraging the ability of an organization's Microsoft Teams client to accept communications from 'external tenants' - those using Teams accounts from outside the company.

Microsoft later rolled out a significant security update for Teams in July 2023, including full end-to-end protection, as well as an improved experience for IT admins and security operations (SecOps) workers.

Security teams are now alerted whenever users report suspicious messages, with the ability to block or quarantine potential risks, and can view them in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal.

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