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Forcepoint

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Websense, Inc.
Company typepublic (Nasdaq: WBSN)
Industrycomputer software, computer security
Founded1994
HeadquartersSan Diego, California
Key people
John Carrington, Chairman
Gene Hodges, CEO
John McCormack, President
Arthur S. Locke III, CFO
Dan Hubbard, CTO
Jason Clark, CSO
Productscontent security, web security, email security, data loss prevention, advanced persistent threat protection, Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), mobile security, social networking security, risk and compliance, Web filtering and Information Leak Prevention
Revenue$332 million
Number of employees
1,450
Websitehttp://www.websense.com/

Websense is a San Diego-based company specializing in Web security gateway software. It enables clients (businesses and governments) to block access to chosen categories of websites.[1] The company has come under some criticism from civil liberties groups on the grounds that it provides repressive regimes with a way to restrict freedom of speech.[2][3]

History

Websense was founded by Phil Trubey in 1994. It went public in the year 2000.[4]

Apart from Web filtering, also known as Internet content-control software, the company provides email security, and data loss-prevention technology. The software also tracks individual internet usage, and its reports can be data drilled by "risk class, category, URL, application, user, workstation, dates, and more."[5]

Websense allows system administrators to block access to web sites and other protocols based on categories. These contain lists of sites that may be blocked at will, either at specified times or permanently. The software offers clients a continue button which permits users to access an otherwise blocked category if it is work related.[6]

Policies can be produced that control either previously identified information that contains 'tags' such as account numbers, credit card records or any combination of many variables. A score is assigned based on a pre defined set of rules and an action applied. The process can be entirely automated but relies upon either pre set policy templates or bespoke rule sets that are developed in house.

The policies or rules that are applied, define what happens at every stage, like most processes the quality of the output depend on the quality of the input. Getting the policies right is critical. Traditional Information Security processes such as Risk Assessments and Information Asset Registers are important as they provide the information needed to create policies that work for particular situations. Although good policy templates are free out of the box, getting the most from them takes some tuning.

Products through acquisition

SurfControl was acquired by Websense on October 3, 2007. Websense has indicated it will continue the Surfcontrol business with a full staff until at least 2011.[citation needed]

Websense's proprietary "Deep Content Control" is software designed to protect confidential information. The company says it is a combination of its ThreatSeeker and PreciseID technologies.[7] PreciseID uses software first developed for the Israeli military.[8] The company has a Data Loss Prevention product called Information Leak Prevention, which was developed by the Israel-based data security company PortAuthority Technologies. In December 2006 Websense bought PortAuthority for $90 million.[9][10] Announcing the take-over, Websense said that it was "committed to maintaining the company's research and development presence in Israel."[9]

On January 27, 2009, Websense acquired Defensio, a security company specialized in blog plugins that help to fight spam and malicious links in the comment sections of blogs. This will help expand its ThreatSeeker Network and could be used by webmasters to warn as soon as suspicious content is posted to their websites.[11][12]

Controversy

Computers at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base are protected by Websense software

Anti-censorship and human rights organizations have said that Websense has censored free speech in repressive régimes, and in those with restricted civil liberties.[2][3] Websense was denounced by Peacefire as having a double standard when deciding how websites are categorized.[1]

In a 2005 report the Rhode Island branch of the American Civil Liberties Union called Websense a deeply flawed technology.[13] It refers to an earlier 2001 report on the inaccuracy of the software, and notes that the Children's Internet Protection Act was struck down in 2002 by a federal court in a decision that was partly based on similar reports.[13] It further notes that, although the blocking technology has improved over the years since 2002, it still remains a "blunt instrument" and that in public libraries equipped with Websense people of all ages "are still denied access to a wide range of legitimate material." [13]

Amnesty international complained in 2004 that Websense is being used by the Chinese government.[3] The OpenNet Initiative has reported that Websense is used by the government in Yemen to enforce censorship of the internet.[2][14]

The company states in its website that "Websense does not sell to governments or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that are engaged in any sort of government-imposed censorship", and won't engage in any arrangement with foreign government that implies oppression of rights.[15] The only exception is for providing filtering capabilities to block child pornography or to prevent minors from accessing sexual websites, as long as adults who have given proof of age are allowed to see websites carrying sexual content.[15]

On occasion, Websense's filter has mislabeled and blocked notable sites. In 2007 Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky's websites were blocked under 'racism/hate speech' category for approximately 24 hours until Finkelstein complained.[16] In 2009, Websense briefly classified router company Cisco's website under 'hack sites'.[17] The blocking of cisco.com was solved in very short time, but it illustrates that the problem of false alarms is not restricted to antivirus software.[17] Due to Websense's method of filtering, users may find that they are restricted from websites based not on content, but the page name or header information itself.

References

  1. ^ a b WebSENSE Examined, Peacefire.
  2. ^ a b c "Internet Filtering in Yemen in 2004–2005: A Country Study" (Document). OpenNet Initiative. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. ^ a b c China: Controls tighten as Internet activism grows (direct link to PDF).
  4. ^ "He's All Business On the Internet, Phil Trubey Unveils His Latest Venture Even Though He Could Retire Today". San Diego Business Journal. 2000-12-11. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  5. ^ Websense: reporting tools.
  6. ^ Websense: list of the categories used to classify the URLs.
  7. ^ Websense: Deep Content Control
  8. ^ Websense: PreciseID.
  9. ^ a b Israel-Times.com Websense to acquire portauthority for 90 million in cash (broken link 26/Feb/2008).
  10. ^ Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (2006-12-20). "Websense to buy PortAuthority". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  11. ^ Websense acquires Canadian blog-spam fighting security company, Maxine Cheung, itbussiness.ca, 2009-02-04
  12. ^ Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (2009-01-27). "With Acquisition Websense to Silence Comment Spam". PCWorld.
  13. ^ a b c The Rhode Island affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union (April 2005). "R.I. ACLU releases report on "troubling" internet censorship in public libraries". Retrieved 2009-06-26. [dead link]
    * full report.
  14. ^ Jane Novak (6–9 March 2008). "Internet censorship in Yemen". Yemen Times. No. 1135 (volume 8). The government ISP automatically denies internet requests from Yemeni users by using Websense and Antlabs to filter internet content. Websense enables the government to block websites by category and to define specific internet sites to block
  15. ^ Websense filtering out this site, official website of Norman Finkelstein, "Reader letters: reply from Websense stating that www.normanfinkelstein.com has been reviewed and now categorised as 'News and Media'"
  16. ^ a b John Leyden (2009-03-20). "Websense mistakes Cisco.com for hack site". The Register.

Further reading

  • Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, Ronald Deibert, John G. Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, Jonathan Zittrain, MIT Press, 2008. ISBN 0262541963, 9780262541961
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