Twitter has acquired security startup Dasient, which describes itself as an anti-malware vendor for large enterprises in the financial services, media, and online sectors. Its technology will be housed within Twitter’s revenue engineering team, which suggests its primary purpose will be to identify malicious ads submitted through the company’s nascent self-serve ad platform before they go live.
In 2010, the company released a service that scanned for malicious ads – for instance the kind that forced downloads on unsuspecting users. The buyers of these ads often present themselves to publishers and ad networks as agency media buyers representing major brands. When the phony ads go live, bad guys can reach millions of victims at once on websites they ordinarily should trust.
“Over the last year, we have been very active in securing the ads and content of the some of the industry’s largest ad networks and web sites,” the company said in a blog post yesterday. “By joining Twitter, Dasient will be able to apply its technology and team to the world’s largest real-time information network.”
In addition to malicious advertisements, another possible target of Dasient’s attention are the legions of phishing attacks that routinely target users with direct messages (DMs) and @mentions. Common refrains are “Have you seen this pic someone posted of you?” and “Did you do this quiz thingy?”
Dasient has stopped accepting new customers and will shut down its business, the blog post added. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is Twitter’s second acquisition of the month, having previously acquired news aggregator Summify.
Related reading
How to optimize your Instagram account for search engines
Instagram accounts are notoriously difficult to have displayed in search results. Instagram actually blocks search engines from indexing the images, but the profiles themselves can still be indexed. It may be a hurdle, but not an insurmountable one.
How to blend performance and branding for a Q4 boost
Digital marketers looking to scale revenue and new customers this holiday season will need to incorporate some branding strategies. This post breaks down channels to test for branding and how to measure their performance.
What is social media listening (and how it can help your SEO)
Social media is needed for a full and healthy SEO strategy. But in what way? How can we get the most out of social media while not getting sucked in and spending half of the working day scrawling through Twitter? Social listening is the key.
Gear up your paid social plan for Q4
Paid social is likely to have a significant impact on your overall efforts in Q4 – not only in building the funnel but actually delivering end-of-the-funnel conversions. It's important to get started on any campaigns now to set yourself up for success.
