Forum Discussion
Investigating Excel-Initiated Email Activity Without Sent Items Trace
Two days ago, three emails were sent from a user’s inbox without leaving any copies in the Sent Items folder. The user did not send these emails manually—this is confirmed by the presence of the SimpleMAPI flag in Outlook.
**What I know:**
**Email Characteristics:**
- All three emails contained a Word attachment.
- No body text was present.
- The subject line matched the attachment file name.
- Two of the emails were identical.
**Recipients:**
- Emails were sent to colleagues who originally created the attached documents.
**Attachment Details:**
- One attachment appeared to be a temporary file (e.g., a3e6....).
**System Behavior:**
- No suspicious logins detected before or after the event.
- Emails were sent via the Outlook.exe process on the user’s machine.
- Excel.exe was identified as the parent initiating process according to Microsoft Defender endpoint logs.
**In Defender's Endpoint logs I found this under Typed Details (related to the firing of the 3 emails):**
- Downloaded file: `2057_5_0_word_httpsshredder-eu.osi.office.net_main.html`
- Path: `C:\Users\s***s\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\TapCache\2057_5_0_word_httpsshredder-eu.osi.office.net_main.html`
- Downloaded file: `~$rmalEmail.dotm`
- Path: `C:\Users\s***s\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\~$rmalEmail.dotm`
I am seeking assistance to replicate this issue and accurately determine how these three emails were triggered.
1 Reply
- GoXATAKANBrass Contributor
I think this is where it all starts.
- ~$ = temporary Office file
- .dotm = macro-enabled Word template
This means Word macros were loaded, even if the user never noticed Word opening.
Very common when:
- Excel automates Word
- A template is referenced
- A macro runs silently
How you can reproduce it yourself (quick test)- Open Excel
- Press Alt + F11
- Paste this into a module:
- Sub TestSend() CreateObject("Outlook.Application") _ .CreateItem(0) _ .Send End Sub
- Run it
- You’ll see:
- Email sent
- No Sent Items copy
- Outlook.exe used
- Excel.exe is parent
Same behavior you’re investigating.
To Prevent this; 👉 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Security settings → Attack surface reduction → Rules
Enable:- Excel → Outlook email automation
- Word macros sending mail
- Office launching cmd.exe / powershell.exe
Enable: Block Office apps from creating child processes → It should block.