Content security and anti-virus specialist Trend Micro today launched a new version of its enterprise desktop solution featuring new web reputation technology designed to protect corporate users from accessing sites that could host or download malware.

OfficeScan 8.0 protects firms against malware, viruses, rootkits and network-based attacks, and uses domain reputation information to determine whether individual sites are too dangerous to visit, according to the firm.

Customers can set their filters to low, medium or high, and the service operates in the cloud, meaning that users outside the corporate network are also protected with the same dynamically updated service, explained Trend Micro chief technology officer Raimund Genes.

There are also new plug-in capabilities which will make deployment of the technology easier for IT administrators, he added.

"This is a big change which means we could add additional modules without re-installing or rolling out another client, which is a big problem in the industry," Genes explained. "So, for example, we'll be introducing a plug-in for mobile security before the end of the year."

Andy Kellett commented that most vendors in this space are trying to improve their spyware capabilities because "they don't perform as well as they could", and he added that the value of the web filtering technology would lie in a low number of false positives.

He added that the plug-in capabilities would be well-received by administrators. "This is of value and needs to be part of these services to ensure that levels of protection are kept in line and users are properly managed – it's almost an expectation now," he added.

Meanwhile, content security specialist Websense has also released a new solution, integrating its web filtering with information leak prevention solutions into version 6 of the Content Protection Suite.

The product allows administrators to be more granular when allocating user web usage and information sending rights, and includes enhancements to content detection capabilities, said Websense.

It also features a user-friendly graphical interface to ease the management of large, multi-site enterprises, according to the firm.

In related news, web security firm Acunetix has launched a new scanning tool designed to alert firms if their web applications are vulnerable to attack and likely to fail PCI requirements.

Version 5 of the firm's Web Vulnerability Scanner features a web services scanner to detect any potential exploit opportunities in enterprise web services architectures, and a reporting tool.