Websense Buys Spam Protection for Social Web Sites

Websense has announced the acquisition of Defensio, a technology platform focused on stopping spam on social Web sites.

The acquisition is meant to extend the content identification and classification capabilities of the Websense ThreatSeeker Network by providing visibility into spam posted as comments to social Web sites, including blogs, user forums and social networking sites. The company will also enhance Defensio Web services so third-party Web 2.0 developers can embed Websense content classification intelligence into their applications, Websense officials said.

“This acquisition puts Websense years ahead of the security industry in Web 2.0 capabilities and intelligence,” said Websense Chief Technology Officer Dan Hubbard in a statement. “We’ve already integrated Defensio intelligence into the ThreatSeeker Network, giving existing Websense customers broader protection from Web 2.0 security threats by making Websense products even more universal, accurate and effective. For example, Websense recently used Defensio-derived intelligence to detect that the popular presidential social networking Web site—http://my.barackobama.com—hosted links to malicious content within its user-generated blogs.”

Officials at Websense plan to support and enhance the Defensio platform for personal users as well as for commercial use. The company will continue to offer the comment spam filter at no charge for personal use. There will also be a six-month commercial trial at no cost.

“This technology acquisition extends our classification and identification abilities to these sources and helps Websense stay ahead of evolving threats,” Hubbard said. “Defensio complements the capabilities of the Websense ThreatSeeker Network with adaptive algorithms. Websense also adds key security data enhancing Defensio.”