Websense May Be Put Up for Sale

Websense (News - Alert) is looking into whether it should put itself up for sale. The software security provider has hired Qatalyst Partners for assistance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Reuters is also reporting the company could fetch about $1 billion if it were sold.

Reuters (News - Alert) said that shares of Websense increased some 12.6 percent to $23 soon after news of the possible sale surfaced.

Websense CEO Gene Hodges told Reuters in 2010 the company “is open to a takeover bid.”

TMCnet reported that both Websense and Qatalyst Partners declined to offer immediate comment on the possible sale.

In other recent Websense news, Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) gave Websense the 2010 Global Market Share Leadership of the Year Award for content filtering products, according to a report from TMCnet.

Websense was honored for its content security growth, innovation and leadership.

Websense is being used by tens of thousands of companies for content security protection and for the Triton solutions offered by the company, TMCnet said.

In other recent company news, Websense reported on its blog that at the Demo conference in Palm Desert – which is designed for startups and entrepreneurs to gather and launch their latest products and companies – the company displayed its newest version of a Facebook (News - Alert) security app called “Defensio.”

New features were put in the latest version of the app, which protects “corporate brand presence and properties on the social Web,” the company said.

“The Defensio technology protects companies' brands, their reputation, their customers, and prospects on their Facebook page by analyzing and classifying user-generated content posted to their pages,” Websense explained.

New Defensio features shown at Demo are: analysis and protection for embedded photos and videos on Facebook pages and news feeds, the company said.

Defensio’s business users are protected from hidden malicious links that may be on photos and video, the company added.