Setting Up Email Forwarding

Bolster’s External Abuse Mailbox module automates management of your organization’s abuse mailbox—the dedicated mailbox where your users report potentially malicious emails involving your brand. To use the module, you need to forward those emails to Bolster. Here’s how to set that up, with options depending on how your abuse mailbox is configured. 

Prerequisites

• Your organization has an operational abuse mailbox that external users can send emails to.
• You have the right permissions to set up forwarding from that mailbox. If not, contact your email system administrator. 
• Your organization has a working admin account on Bolster, with the External Abuse Mailbox module enabled. If not, contact your Customer Success Manager. 
• Bolster has given you the dedicated email address to forward emails to. If not, contact your Customer Success Manager. 

Forwarding From Gmail

Follow these steps if you’re forwarding emails from a standard Gmail mailbox that you control at the user (not admin) level.

Step 1: Access Settings

To access forwarding settings for your abuse mailbox: 

1. Open Gmail on a desktop computer (not mobile).  
2. Sign in to the abuse mailbox account. 
3. In the top right, click the gear icon for Settings.  
4. Select See all settings.
5.  Select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

Step 2: Add Bolster’s Forwarding Address

To enable Bolster’s email address for forwarding: 

1. In the Forwarding section, click Add a forwarding address. 
2. Enter the forwarding email address Bolster provided. 
3. Select Next.
4. Confirm the address is correct and select Proceed > OK.A verification message is sent to the Bolster email address.
5. Ask your Customer Success Manager to complete the verification process at Bolster. Allow up to 2 business days for a response from Bolster confirming verification. 

You must wait for Bolster to complete the verification before continuing to the next step.

Step 3: Forward Messages to Bolster

To automatically forward all messages to Bolster for processing: 

1. In Gmail, return to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. 
2. In the Forwarding section, select Forward a copy of incoming mail to, then select the Bolster email address you added in the previous step. If it doesn’t appear, try refreshing your browser. If that doesn’t work, ask your Customer Success Manager to confirm that the address was verified in the previous step. 
3. Optional but recommended: Select the option to Keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox. 

You also have the option to forward only specific messages by applying a filter. Filters only work on new incoming emails, not retroactively on existing messages.  

For more about setting up filters and email forwarding in general, see Google’s official documentation: Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account. 

Forwarding From Outlook

Follow these steps if you’re forwarding emails from a standard Outlook mailbox that you control at the user (not admin) level.

Step 1: Access Settings

1. On your desktop computer (not mobile), open Outlook.  
2. Sign in to the account for the external abuse mailbox you are forwarding from. 
3. In the top right, click the gear icon for Settings. 

Step 2: Create a Forwarding Rule

1. In Settings, navigate to Mail > Rules. 
2. Click + Add new rule.
3. Give your email forwarding rule a unique and descriptive name.
4. Add one or more conditions to determine which emails will be forwarded to Bolster. For example, if the “To” address matches your abuse mailbox.
5. Add the action Forward as attachment and enter the email address Bolster provided.
6. Optional: Uncheck the box to Stop processing more rules to prevent other rules from being applied. For more context, see Microsoft’s official documentation: Stop processing more rules in Outlook.

For more about email forwarding from Outlook in general, see Microsoft’s official documentation: Use rules to automatically forward messages. 

Other Ways to Forward Emails

Bolster has verified the above methods for email forwarding. However, your organization may have a different setup or need to take a different approach. In that case, refer to the provider’s official documentation. 

Here are some examples: 

• Google Workspace forwarding for admins – Redirect or forward Gmail messages to another user  
• Google Workspace routing for admins – Email Routing and Delivery Options for Google Workspace 
• Another Outlook option for users – Turn on Automatic Forwarding in Outlook 
• Microsoft 365 forwarding for admins – Configure email forwarding in Microsoft 365 

If Your Setup Isn’t Listed

For a provider or scenario not listed above, look under Settings for Forwarding, Mail Forwarding, Redirect, or Routing options, or check if you can create a rule to automatically forward emails.  

You can also search for “how to set up email forwarding [your provider]”, check your provider’s support site, or contact their customer support for help. 

Testing Email Forwarding

Once you have set up forwarding, confirm that emails are being forwarded to Bolster.  

To test email forwarding: 

1. Using a different email account, send a test email to the abuse mailbox you’re forwarding from.  
2. Allow up to 24 hours for Bolster to process the email. 
3. Navigate to Attack Surface > Abuse Mailbox > All Email Submissions. 
4. Confirm the email you sent appears in the inbox-style list. 

If the test email doesn’t appear, troubleshoot your configuration using the provider’s documentation. If the problem appears to be on Bolster’s end, contact your Customer Success Manager. 

Next Steps

Once you have confirmed email forwarding is working correctly, return to Bolster and continue setting up the Abuse Mailbox module. Next steps include adding assets and setting up users. For more, see Getting Started: External Abuse Mailbox Module.