Message Labs Link Following Feature

Message Labs is rolling out an update to its antivirus scanning with a new feature called link following.

The free Link Following feature will automatically examine all email messages containing URL links. Upon seeing a particular URL for the first time, Link Following will allow the email to continue on its path while it creates a copy of the URL for further investigation. Link Following actively (either heuristically or manually) follows these links and checks the linked website for viruses or other types of potentially harmful content or payload. If a suspicious link is confirmed as viral, a signature is created and any further emails containing that link are treated as messages containing a virus. This means that they will be quarantined for fourteen days under the same MessageLabs Anti-Virus procedure currently in place.