Blue Coat has expanded the malware defences in its cloud-based WebPulse service to offer better protection against web-based threats.

The new features are available to all users and don’t require software downloads or updates.

"The speed with which malware and malicious content evolves demands a defence that can move equally as fast," said Rajeev Mitroo, Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand for Blue Coat Systems. "With the WebPulse service, Blue Coat provides customers with a defence that can be rapidly expanded in response to new threats, attack vectors and malicious content to immediately and seamlessly protect more than 70 million users in real time."

The firm says that in the past 90 days it has added more than 100 new detection rules to WebPulse to target malicious traffic such as botnets and exploit kits.

Around 65% of the new rules are designed to identify malware and its sources.