Bit.ly Leverages Websense To Analyse Websites & Content

Websense, a global player in integrated Web, data and e-mail security solutions, has announced that bit.ly – a URL shortening service for Web 2.0 sites and for micro-blogging services like Twitter and Tweetdeck – will leverage the Websense ThreatSeeker Cloud to analyse and categorise the websites and content behind millions of shortened bit.ly URLs created daily to protect end users from emerging Web 2.0 threats.

bit.ly URL shortening service use continues to increase. In October, the company shortened more than two billion links, helping to enable communication on the Web. By the end of the year, bit.ly plans to begin processing millions of existing and newly created shortened links through the Web API of the Websense ThreatSeeker Cloud daily.

“With the Websense security-as-a-service API powering our security intelligence, we will be able to better serve our customers and enable their use of Web 2.0 social media technology while protecting them from the latest threats,” said Andrew Cohen, bit.ly’s General Manager.

In the cloud, Websense will conduct full content analysis for the IP sources, websites and Web content behind bit.ly links, including categorisation and reputation analysis of the URL, property type, lexical and search reputation, history, age, geography, neighbouring properties and more. If a user attempts to click on a bit.ly link that leads to Web content determined by Websense to be malicious, spam or a known phishing site, bit.ly will display an alert describing the threat potential and provide the user the choice to safely navigate away.

In addition to providing security and classification intelligence to bit.ly users, users will now be able to report spam to abuse@bit.ly and have their feedback become part of the classification and threat protection for all Websense subscribers.