Twitter has acquired a Web security startup company called Dasient, in a deal whose terms were not disclosed. Dasient has a number of tools that address security problems, including
an anti-malware platform capable of scanning URLs and websites for the
presence of harmful content. The service is designed to help protect ad
networks and publishers from malicious ads.
According to the Dasient blog, the deal is effective immediately and the company plans to bring its “technology, tools and team to the revenue engineering team at Twitter.”
“Neil Daswani, Shariq Rizvi and Ameet Ranadive have created technology that provides network security and malware prevention service for some of the largest ad networks in the world. Their team has an excellent understanding of advertising platform-related security issues and will be a valuable addition to the revenue engineering team,” said Rachael Horwitz, a Twitter spokesperson, via email.
Like Twitter, Dasient is based in San Francisco. It is not clear whether or not Dasient will keep its offices or move into Twitter’s office, or if there will be any layoffs. Calls to Dasient were not immediately returned.
Dasient did comment on the news in a blog post, in which it revealed that the company is no longer accepting new business. In the post, Neil Daswani, cofounder/CEO of the company wrote, “By joining Twitter, Dasient will be able to apply its technology and team to the world’s largest real-time information network. As part of this merger, Dasient is winding down its business and is no longer able to accept new customers.”
