How does URL reputation protect against malware links?

URL reputation databases track domains and pages associated with **malware** distribution. Email security systems check links against these databases, blocking or warning about known malicious destinations.

Reputation sources include: security vendor crawling and analysis, user reports, automated detection systems, and shared threat intelligence. When **malware** distribution is detected, URLs are flagged across participating systems.

Limitations: new URLs lack reputation history, compromised legitimate sites may not be flagged immediately, and sophisticated attackers use URL rotation to outrun databases. Reputation is one layer in multi-layered defense.