Web and email security specialist Trend Micro has announced new technology designed to prevent corporate employees from visiting web pages containing malware, and therefore mitigate the risks of data leakage, identity theft and reputational damage.

Total Web Threat Protection is designed to run in tandem with the firm's URL filtering, antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-spam technology to determine the reputation of web sites and pages, and will be built into all future products, according to Trend's chief technology officer Raimund Genes.

The new technology also utilises Trend's Network Reputation Services, which are based on a list of known bad IP addresses, so the firm will be able to check if a known malware writer tries to set up another web site, he explained.

"We're not Google – we can't rate the complete internet, but as we see what our customers are accessing we will be able to build up a better knowledge [of the threats]," he said. "And it's only one part of the solution [alongside] URL filtering."

Genes added that the service operates "in the cloud", meaning mobile workers can also be protected with no extra effort, and less impact on IT resources and bandwidth.

Andrew Kellett of analyst firm Butler Group said the new service will see Trend leveraging its experience in the threat-protection space, and following the general trend among security vendors to broaden out their capabilities.

"There is no 100 percent protection but when organisations like Trend position themselves in the marketplace they're selling you a mature service – they're saying, 'We know what we're doing'," he added. "But the proof of the pudding will be in how well the end-user community finds it at protecting them. "