05 August, 2026
What you need to know
The additional Gmail protection will go live on Thursday, August 13, 2026. No action is required from you.
At KAUST IT, we are continually working to make your email experience safer without making it harder to use.
Gmail already includes multiple layers of protection against spam, phishing, and malware. On August 13, we are enabling an additional safeguard that helps identify certain spoofed or unauthenticated emails before they reach your inbox.
Emails that cannot be verified may be delivered to your Spam folder instead of your inbox.
For most people, nothing will appear different
Gmail already blocks large numbers of unwanted and malicious emails. This update adds another layer of defense to help catch a small number of suspicious messages that might otherwise reach your inbox.
Imagine receiving an email that appears to come from your bank, a research collaborator, an academic journal, Microsoft, or even your supervisor.
At first glance, the sender name and email address may look legitimate. In reality, someone may have forged the address to trick you into clicking a link, opening an attachment, or sharing sensitive information.
These messages are known as spoofed emails. They are designed to make you believe the message came from a person or organization you trust.
The additional Gmail protection checks whether an incoming message genuinely came from the organization it claims to represent. If the message cannot be verified, Gmail is more likely to place it in Spam rather than deliver it to your inbox.
Most people will never notice this change.
On the rare occasion that a legitimate email is delivered to your Spam folder, open the message and select Not spam. This helps Gmail recognize similar legitimate messages in the future.
Expecting an email that has not arrived?
Check your Spam folder first, especially if the message is coming from an organization outside KAUST.
This may occasionally affect messages from:
If a legitimate sender repeatedly has difficulty reaching you, they may need to review their own email configuration. In most cases, only the organization sending the email can correct those issues.
Technology plays an important role in protecting your mailbox, but attackers often rely on something much simpler: human emotion.
Be extra cautious if an email:
When in doubt, pause and verify the request through another trusted method before responding, clicking a link, or opening an attachment.
This change applies to KAUST community members who use Gmail for their KAUST email account, including:
If you use Microsoft Outlook for your KAUST email, this particular change does not affect your mailbox.
You do not need to do anything to prepare for this update.
Most people will never notice the change. If you do, it is most likely because Gmail is protecting you from a suspicious message. On the rare occasion that a legitimate email appears in Spam, simply mark it as Not spam.
Every additional layer of protection makes it a little harder for attackers to impersonate trusted organizations and a little easier for you to focus on the emails that matter.
