Bit.ly, the reigning king of Twitter’s short URL service is taking a good hard look at malware. In a blog post published earlier today, the company announced a partnership with three security giants to beef up protection for the millions of Bit.ly short links whizzing through Facebook and Twitter every month. The company will incorporate Verisign’s iDefense IP reputation service, WebSense’s ThreatSeeker Cloud Service and Sophos’ Web Alert Services.
In May, ReadWriteWeb covered Bit.ly’s win over TinyURL as the default Twitter link shortener. Since the company’s Twitter victory, hackers have been targeting the service as a vehicle for destructive malware. To combat this, Verisign’s service will help Bit.ly detect and defeat malware by incorporating a blacklist that includes URLs, domains and IP addresses. Web Sense’s ThreatSeeker will analyze content and links in real-time to prevent malicious and inappropriate content from being posted on or distributed from Bit.ly. And finally, Sophos will analyze the actions of potential spammers and monitor users for telltale attack patterns. In addition to today’s partners, Bit.ly also uses Google’s Safe Browsing API and several other link blacklists to identify threats.
While each of these services will alleviate some of the burden, they simply cannot hold back every attack that surfaces in this rising tide of malware. To further protect yourself from malware, check out ReadWriteWeb’s list of 8 Practices to Avoid Malware and consider installing a LongURL browser extension to preview links before you click them.
