Defensio Acquisition Extends Websense Security Capabilities

Websense has announced the acquisition of Defensio, a technology platform focused on solving the problem of spam on the social Web. The acquisition immediately extends the content identification and classification capabilities of the Websense ThreatSeeker Network by providing visibility into spam posted as comments to social websites, including blogs, user forums and social networking sites. Websense will also enhance Defensio Web services so third-party Web 2.0 developers can embed Websense content classification intelligence into their applications.

“This acquisition strengthens Websense capabilities in Web 2.0 and intelligence,” said Websense chief technology officer Dan Hubbard. “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 more universal, accurate and effective. For example, Websense recently used Defensio-derived intelligence to detect that the popular presidential social networking website – http://my.barackobama.com – hosted links to malicious content within its user-generated blogs.”

“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.”