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    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    McAfee Gobbles Up Web Ratings Security Startup

    By
    Ryan Naraine
    -
    April 5, 2006
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      Anti-virus security specialist McAfee has wasted no time gobbling up SiteAdvisor, a 1-year-old startup that rates the Web to determine if a sites content includes spyware, spam, viruses, browser-based exploits or online scams.

      McAfee announced April 5 it is acquiring the tiny Boston-based company that counts respected anti-spyware activist Ben Edelman among its roster of backers.

      Financial terms of the acquisition, which come just one month after the official launch of the SiteAdvisor browser plug-in service, were not released.

      McAfee, of Santa Clara, Calif., did not say how it would integrate SiteAdvisor with its existing product suite, but a source close to the company said the plan is to leverage SiteAdvisors massive database of shady Web sites for use in consumer-facing and enterprise offerings.

      “In addition to the consumer benefits, SiteAdvisor offers great potential for our enterprise solutions as well,” said George Heron, vice president and chief scientist at McAfee.

      “[This technology] adds another dimension of strength and value to McAfees threat databases and will offer a significant corporate benefit,” he added.

      For SiteAdvisor, which has received funding from Bessemer Venture Partners General Catalyst Partners, it is a swift exit in a market saturated by startups hawking security services.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifTo read more about SiteAdvisors system for marking unsafe Web sites, click here.

      The company uses automated crawlers to test every Web site on the Internet and a color-coded (red, yellow or green) system to flag potentially dangerous sites.

      The idea is to have a browser plug-in serve as an alert on search engines if the user surfs to a site that may be hosting malware or exploits.

      In March, SiteAdvisor said its service had placed a red “X” warning label on approximately 5 percent of all Web traffic and warned that there are 1 billion monthly visits to Web pages that arent safe for surfing.

      /zimages/1/84833.gifZiff Davis Media eSeminars invite: Is your enterprise network truly secure? Join us April 11 at 4 p.m. ET as Akonix demonstrates best practices for neutralizing threats and securing your network.

      SiteAdvisor places a green checkmark on sites cleared as having no significant problems.

      However, if a Web site tries to change the users browser defaults or send a lot of “non-spammy” e-mail, the service will take a use a yellow exclamation mark to caution users.

      Web sites found hosting drive-by exploits, bundling adware or spyware with downloads or hammering inboxes with spam get the dreaded red warning “X.”

      The browser plug-in is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox users.

      In a blog post announcing the deal with McAfee, SiteAdvisor CEO Chris Dixon sad the free features in the current software will remain free for existing and new users.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzers Weblog.

      Ryan Naraine

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