Email security solutions actively analyze hyperlinks in emails using a variety of techniques to protect users and gather threat intelligence. This analysis includes following links to check the destination and content, URL detonation (visiting in a sandbox), scanning against blacklists, verifying website legitimacy, and assessing URL reputation. Some systems rewrite URLs for safe link handling, and advanced solutions emulate user clicks to observe website behavior. Dynamically generated URLs and click-tracking domains may receive increased scrutiny. Top solutions like Google Safe Browsing, Microsoft Defender Safe Links, Cisco Talos, Proofpoint URL Defense, and Barracuda Email Security Service employ these methods.
13 marketer opinions
Email security software solutions actively click hyperlinks in emails for a variety of reasons, primarily to assess the safety and legitimacy of the linked content. This involves techniques like URL detonation (visiting the link in a sandbox), scanning against blacklists, analyzing for malware, verifying website legitimacy, and evaluating URL reputation. Some solutions also emulate user clicks to observe website behavior. Using click-tracking domains may trigger more scrutiny from these systems, while direct URLs may be less likely to be flagged. These actions are taken both to protect users from phishing and malware, and to gather threat intelligence.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks answers yes, email security platforms regularly follow links.
30 Jul 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from PhishingProtectionBlog.com shares that anti-phishing systems often crawl links in emails to detect and block phishing attacks.
16 Jan 2023 - PhishingProtectionBlog.com
2 expert opinions
Email security systems, especially those employing safe link handling techniques, often rewrite URLs and actively check the destination when a user clicks. Anti-spam systems also follow links to verify the destination and check for malicious content.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that some systems, particularly those doing safe link handling, will rewrite URLs and check the destination when a user clicks.
29 Apr 2025 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that anti-spam systems may follow links in emails to verify the destination and check for malicious content. However, I wasn't able to find any direct answer about this topic on the specific page. But from the general content of this site I can assume the answer will be yes.
18 Apr 2023 - Spamresource.com
5 technical articles
Leading email security solutions, including Google Safe Browsing, Microsoft Defender Safe Links, Cisco Talos, Proofpoint URL Defense, and Barracuda Email Security Service, actively analyze hyperlinks in emails. These systems often rewrite URLs, crawl websites, use sandboxing, and employ reputation scoring to identify and block malicious URLs, protecting users from phishing and malware.
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains Google Safe Browsing crawls websites to identify unsafe sites and adds them to blacklists. This includes analyzing links found in emails to protect users from phishing and malware.
25 Oct 2023 - Google
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft shares that Microsoft Defender's Safe Links feature rewrites URLs in incoming email messages. When a user clicks a link, Safe Links verifies the URL before it's opened. If the URL is found to be malicious, a warning page is displayed.
9 Feb 2025 - Microsoft
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