Link wrapping
Replacing a link's real address with one that passes through another server first, done by senders for click tracking and by receivers' security systems to check links when clicked.
What it means
Two different parties wrap links. Sending platforms rewrite them for click tracking. Receivers' security products rewrite inbound links so they can be checked when clicked: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Safe Links rewrites URLs in incoming mail during mail flow and verifies them at the time of click. A link in a delivered message can therefore be wrapped twice.
Wrapping has side effects. Microsoft notes that wrapping by another service before Safe Links can stop Safe Links from processing a link. Wrapped links are long, hide the destination from the reader until clicked, and stop working if the wrapping service is down or its domain is blocked.
Related terms
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes