Websense acquires Defensio

The acquisition enhances the Websense ThreatSeeker Network by highlighting spam posted as comments on social Web sites, including blogs, user forums and social networking sites.

The company will also benefit from Defensio Web services so third-party Web 2.0 developers can embed Websense into their applications.

“This acquisition puts Websense years ahead of the security industry in Web 2.0 capabilities and intelligence,” said Dan Hubbard chief technology officer Websense.

“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,” he added.

Criminals are adding Web 2.0 sites to spread spam and malicious code, boost search engine rankings and drive phishing and fraud scams.

According to Websense Security Labs research, more than 95 percent of all Web posts on blogs, forums and other sites are unwanted content such as spam and malicious content.

It claims it is committed to the Defensio developer community and plans to support and enhance the 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, while offering a new six month commercial trial at no cost.

“The combination of Defensio and Websense is a coup for Web 2.0 developers looking for strong anti-spam and security capabilities,” said Carl Mercier, who founded Defensio and has joined Websense as director of software development.

“Imagine if Web 2.0 developers could access an API so their applications could determine if user-generated content is malicious or unwanted – without having to embed anything in their applications or products.

“We see strong potential to partner with social networking platforms, enterprises and hosting providers to enable advanced Web 2.0 security with the Defensio solution,” he added.