Teams updates to watch: malicious link warnings, blocked risky files, and a new private backroom chat

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Microsoft has announced three Teams updates the past months. Two that strengthen security and one that will improve how organizers coordinate events: Malicious URL Protection, Weaponizable file type protection and Private chat for organizers, co‑organizers, and presenters. Please note that timelines can shift, so treat the dates as guidance rather than guarantees. Malicious URL Protection (Roadmap ID 499893 ) Microsoft has announced link‑scanning in Teams chats and channels that warns senders and recipients about unsafe URLs. The feature reached general availability rollout by the end of November 2025, while the separate change to make it ON by default, originally planned as part of that release, has been postponed to early 2026.  If you don't want to wait for it to be on by default, or feel the need to configure it, you can do so in the Teams admins center: "Teams admin center → Messaging settings → Scan messages for unsafe URLs”. Or you can mange the configuration with Power...

Teams meeting experience is getting a long awaited feature

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Yesterday a message regarding Teams meeting experience landed in the Admin Message Center. Teams is getting three new features this month.

One of them have been demonstrated for a long time, but it is finally coming to a client near you: Custom Backgrounds is supposed to be rolling out mid April.

I am guessing this has been one of the most requested features at user voice, and with the WFH situation many of us are in, this is most welcome in order to "hide" distractions in the back. And no, that's not my living-room you see in the picture.

The other two features are also most welcome, and will increase the meeting experience for users.

By adding a "Meet now" button in channels, it will be easier than ever to launch an ad-hoc channel meeting. And by changing/enhancing the landing page for a Teams meeting invitation a user is taken to upon clicking an invite, it is more clear to the end user what options the users have to join the meeting.

There are no admin controls related to these feature at the time, but you may want to update your training and inform your users about the new features.