Facebook likes Websense security offering

Marina Freri
Tuesday, 04 October 2011 11:05

Business IT - Security

After weeks dealing with users' privacy issues, Facebook today announced it would partner with security services provider, Websense, to protect users from links that may lead to malware and malicious sites.

According to official statements released today by both Facebook and Websense, soon when a Facebook user clicks on a link posted within the social networking site, the newly deployed system, Websense ThreatSeeker Cloud, will analyse web content in real time, through its advanced classification engine.

If the engined judges that it would be unsafe to continue, users will be warned by a page that offers to either continue at their own risks or to return to the previous screen and acquire more information.

'Websense has been analysing and classifying the Internet for more than 15 years, and now all Facebook users will be protected by the same core technology that is used in the market-leading Websense TRITON enterprise security solutions,' Websense chief technology officer, Dan Hubbard, said.

Facebook product manager for site integrity, Dan Rubinstein, said the move was intended to ensure users were safe from malware threats when logged in. 'Facebook cares deeply about protecting users from potentially malicious content on the Internet,' he said.

But when a spokesperson from Facebook, asked Facebook users - via Facebook's security blog, what they thought of the partnership with Websense he received mix responses. Some of the users were pleased by the new security system: 'I think this is a wonderful idea! I wish you had done it sooner. I clicked on a link a few months ago and my computer crashed. I lost so much, and it was very upsetting," one wrote.

But others tended to disagree and judged the web content analysis as a form of control over users. 'Isn't anyone concerned that this could be used to steer people away from certain news and information, only to be replaced by whatever spin they'd rather feed us?'