14 DAY TRIAL // Webroot Software announced today the acquisition of BrightCloud, a company providing content classification services. The security vendor plans to integrate BrithCloud's Web reputation systems into its own security solutions.
BrightCloud Reputation Index (BCRI) contains reputation score for over 200 million URLs. The company uses a crawler, which determines the reputation of a website based on a wide variety of criteria. URLs are also checked for the presence of keyloggers and monitoring tools, malware, phishing and other frauds, anonymous proxies, spyware and adware, bot nets or spam.
The company also operates a filtering service, which classifies websites according to 82 categories. The technology uses machine learning algorithms, as well as human review to determine the nature of the website's content.
Webroot, a Colorado-based security company which develops products for both home and enterprise consumers, is looking to enhance its future Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. "BrightCloud brings to Webroot a set of Web filtering capabilities that are world-class, and upon which we will build significant new capabilities. BrightCloud’s technology and team will be great assets to Webroot as we establish ourselves as the best company in the world at delivering security as a service," Dick Williams, Webroot's CEO, said.
Webroot plans to move its current Web security service into the cloud and market it Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. The new product will be called Webroot Internet Security Complete and will be launched next month.
The company is also planning to use BrightCloud's software localization resources, which involves support for more than 30 languages, to reach other markets as well. BrightCloud's current employees will join the new Webroot Cloud Engineering team.
"We are very excited to become a part of Webroot. This merger will enable us to provide even greater protection, service and value to our customers and partners, and the strength of the Webroot brand and its technology portfolio will help us reach new markets," Quinn Curtis, BrightCloud's president and CEO, commented.