What are Shield connectors in Microsoft 365?

Shield connectors reside in [the Microsoft 365 tenant](https://admin.cloud.microsoft/exchange#/connectors) of the Shield organization. All connectors are added during Shield deployment.

Shield Connectors

Shield connectors are pre-configured components within a Microsoft 365 tenant for the Shield organization, installed during Shield deployment to manage secure mail flow between the organization's email servers and Office 365, requiring regular updates via full deployments to maintain functionality and alignment with corresponding transport rules.

Description

Shield connectors reside in the Microsoft 365 tenant of the Shield organization. All connectors are added during Shield deployment.

Please ensure that all Shield updates are performed in order for Shield connectors to stay current. If you have not performed all updates for the Shield organization the connectors may look different.

Do not replace existing connectors with the connectors below. Instead, run a full deployment via View Deployments to properly update the organization.

Corresponding transport rules are detailed here.

Shield - Receive from Courier


#### Mail flow scenario<br>- From: Your organization's email server<br>- To: Office 365<br>* * <br>#### Name<br>Shield - Receive from Courier<br> * <br>#### Status<br>On<br> * <br>#### How to identify email sent from your email server<br>Incoming messages from your email server are identified by verifying that:<br>- The subject name* on the connecting TLS certificate matches the configured domain:<br> <br> [a value unique to your M365 tenant]<br> <br>- The sender's email address is an accepted domain for your Microsoft 365 organization.

#### Mail flow scenario - From: Your organization's email server - To: Office 365 * *  #### Name Shield - Receive from Courier  *  #### Status On  * * #### How to identify email sent from your email server Incoming messages from your email server are identified by verifying that: - The subject name on the connecting TLS certificate matches the configured domain: [a value unique to your M365 tenant] - The sender's email address is an accepted domain for your Microsoft 365 organization.

Shield - Send to Outpost


#### Mail flow scenario<br>- From: Office 365<br>- To: Partner organization<br>* * <br>#### Name<br>Shield - Send to Outpost<br> * <br>#### Status<br>On<br> * <br>#### Use of connector<br>- Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.<br> * <br>#### Routing<br>- Route email messages through these smart hosts: [a value unique to your M365 tenant]<br> * <br>#### Security restrictions<br>- Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS).<br>- Connect only if the recipient's email server has a digital certificate.*

#### Mail flow scenario - From: Office 365 - To: Partner organization * *  #### Name Shield - Send to Outpost  *  #### Status On  *  #### Use of connector - Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.  *  #### Routing - Route email messages through these smart hosts: [a value unique to your M365 tenant]  * * #### Security restrictions - Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS). - Connect only if the recipient's email server has a digital certificate.

Shield - Send to Frontline


#### Mail flow scenario<br>From: Office 365<br>To: Partner organization<br>* * <br>#### Name<br>Shield – Send to Frontline<br> * <br>#### Status<br>On<br> * <br>#### Use of connector<br>Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.<br> * <br>#### Routing<br>Route email messages through these smart hosts: [a value unique to your M365 tenant]<br> * *<br>#### Security restrictions<br>Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS) and connect only if the recipient's email server has a digital certificate.

#### Mail flow scenario From: Office 365 To: Partner organization * *  #### Name Shield – Send to Frontline  *  #### Status On  *  #### Use of connector Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.  *  #### Routing Route email messages through these smart hosts: [a value unique to your M365 tenant]  * * #### Security restrictions Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS) and connect only if the recipient's email server has a digital certificate.

Bracket Connector


#### Mail flow scenario<br>From: Office 365<br>To: Partner organization<br>* * <br>#### Name<br>Shield – Send to Bracket<br> * <br>#### Status<br>On<br> * <br>#### Use of connector<br>Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.<br> * <br>#### Routing<br>Route email messages through these smart hosts:<br>encrypt.bracket.email<br> * *<br>#### Security restrictions<br>Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS) and connect only if the recipient's email server certificate is issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA).

#### Mail flow scenario From: Office 365 To: Partner organization * *  #### Name Shield – Send to Bracket  *  #### Status On  *  #### Use of connector Use only when I have a transport rule set up that redirects messages to this connector.  *  #### Routing Route email messages through these smart hosts: encrypt.bracket.email  * * #### Security restrictions Always use Transport Layer Security (TLS) and connect only if the recipient's email server certificate is issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA).