URL Protection

URL Protection is the set of security mechanisms that analyze links in emails and other digital channels in order to protect users against malicious or subsequently activated target pages. This is relevant because many modern phishing campaigns do not work via attachments but via seemingly harmless links.

Technically, links are frequently rewritten on receipt (URL rewriting) and checked again when clicked (time-of-click analysis). This is precisely what makes the difference in attacks whose target pages are only “armed” after delivery – a static check at the time of receipt would come to nothing here. In addition, suspicious target pages can be opened in an isolated environment or blocked entirely.

URL protection thus protects against credential theft, malware distribution and social engineering via the link channel – regardless of whether the link arrives by email, chat or another digital channel. The function is implemented both in email security solutions and in web traffic, for example as part of a Secure Web Gateway (SWG).