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Forcepoint, an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
software company A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry. Types There are a number of different types of soft ...
headquartered in
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, that develops
computer security software Computer security software or cybersecurity software is any computer program designed to influence information security. This is often taken in the context of defending computer systems or data, yet can incorporate programs designed specifically ...
and
data protection Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data p ...
, cloud access security broker,
firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...
and
cross-domain solution A cross-domain solution (CDS) is an integrated information assurance system composed of specialized software, and sometimes hardware, that provides a controlled interface to manually or automatically enable and/or restrict the access or transfer o ...
s. Forcepoint was founded in 1994 as an
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...
reseller called NetPartners. It was renamed Websense in 1999 and became a
public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...
in 2000 at the peak of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...
.
Vista Equity Partners Vista Equity Partners is an American investment firm focused on financing and forwarding software, data, and technology-enabled startup businesses. Vista has invested in hundreds of companies, including Misys, Ping Identity, and Marketo. The ...
acquired Websense in 2013 for $906 million.
Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...
acquired an 80% interest in Websense in April 2015 for $1.9 billion and acquired the remaining 20% interest in 2019. In 2015, Websense acquired network security vendor Stonesoft from
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
and in 2016, the company was renamed Forcepoint.
Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City, Francis ...
acquired the company from Raytheon in January 2021.


Corporate history


NetPartners

The company was founded in 1994 as NetPartners in
Sorrento Valley, San Diego Sorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located about 17 mi (27 km) north of Downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. It is roughly bounded by Interstate 5 and Interstate 805, Camino Santa Fe t ...
by Phil Trubey. The company began as a reseller for network security products, then developed software for controlling Internet use by employees. In 1998, NetPartners raised $6 million in
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...
funding and had $6 million in annual revenue. Later that year, investors pushed Trubey out of the CEO position and appointed John Carrington as his replacement.


Websense

In June 1999, NetPartners was renamed Websense. In March 2000, at the peak of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...
, it raised $72 million in an
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
. The stock price doubled on its first day of trading. In 2006, former
McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
CEO Gene Hodges succeeded Carrington as
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of the company. In 2006, Websense acquired a fingerprint security company, PortAuthority. for $90 million. In October 2007, it acquired email security vendor SurfControl for $400 million. In 2009, it acquired Defensio, a spam and malware company focused on social media. By 2009, Websense had 1,400 employees, with offices in England, China, Australia, and Israel. In 2011,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
deployed Websense to check every link users shared on the site. In 2013,
Vista Equity Partners Vista Equity Partners is an American investment firm focused on financing and forwarding software, data, and technology-enabled startup businesses. Vista has invested in hundreds of companies, including Misys, Ping Identity, and Marketo. The ...
acquired the company for $906 million. Websense headquarters were moved to San Diego that year and to
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
in 2014. In 2015,
Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...
acquired the firm from Vista Equity Partners for $1.9 billion and combined it with RCP, formerly part of its IIS segment, to form Raytheon, Websense. In October 2015, Raytheon added Foreground Security,, for $62 million.


Forcepoint

Raytheon acquired an 80% interest in Websense in May 2015 for about $1.9 billion. In October 2015, the company acquired from two subsidiaries of
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
, Stonesoft and Sidewinder, for $389 million. Stonesoft was a network security product previously known as "McAfee Next-Generation Firewall;" Sidewinder was a firewall previously known as McAfee Firewall Enterprise. In January 2016, Websense, along with the two subsidiaries Stonesoft and Sidewinder, were merged and rebranded as Forcepoint. Raytheon's "Cyber Products" business was also merged into the new brand. At the time, Forcepoint had 2,000 employees, with one-third of its customers being departments in the federal government of the United States. Forcepoint was the smallest of five major businesses owned by Raytheon, but had the highest
profit margin Profit margin is a measure of profitability. It is calculated by finding the profit as a percentage of the revenue. \text = = There are 3 types of profit margins: gross profit margin, operating profit margin and net profit margin. * Gross Pro ...
. The following year, Forcepoint began shuffling executives in a re-organization effort that included some layoffs. The company was divided into four business units: Cloud Security, Network Security, Data & Insider Threat Security, and Global Governments. In April 2016, Matthew Moynahan was appointed
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of Forcepoint. In February 2017, Forcepoint acquired a cloud-based access broker (CASB) security product from
Imperva Imperva is a cyber security software and services company which provides protection to enterprise data and application software. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California. History Imperva, originally named WEBcohort, was founded in 20 ...
called Skyfence. In August 2017, it acquired user and entity behavior analytics company RedOwl. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Raytheon acquired the remaining 20% of the company from Vista Ventures Partners LLC for $588 million. In October 2020,
Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City, Francis ...
announced their agreement to acquire Forcepoint from Raytheon. The transaction was completed in January 2021.


Version history

By 1997, three years after Forcepoint was founded, the company had published version 3 of its software. Version 3.0 introduced the software's first graphical, web-based administrative user interface. At the time, Forcepoint's software was only used to prevent employees from viewing certain types of content at work, but in 2006 features were added to detect when employees were attempting to visit websites suspected of hosting malicious code. In 2007 Websense introduced a product to control content a user can see on social media websites, an endpoint security product, a website reputation ranker, and a small business version. Additionally, a product was added to the Websense suite that identifies sensitive files in un-secure locations on the corporate network and looks for records of those files being transmitted. Websense introduced its first appliance product in 2009. In 2010, some products were consolidated into the Triton software, which became responsible for increasingly large portions of the company's revenue. In February 2012, Forcepoint released a cloud-based suite of IT security products for smartphones, tablets, laptops, USB drives, and other mobile devices. Upgrades to the suite in 2012 added the ability to identify confidential information in an image file. Three new products or revisions were introduced in 2016, all focused on security risks caused by employees.


Censorship

Forcepoint has a policy against selling to governments and ISPs that engage in Internet censorship, however it has been criticized for a "perceived link to censorship of free speech and the dissemination of knowledge." In 2009, it was discovered that the Yemeni government was using Forcepoint's products to monitor the public's internet use and block tools that allow citizens to hide their internet use from the government and the software '' Alkasir'' was created to circumvent it. Forcepoint responded by cutting off the country's access to the firm's database updates. However, then
Sanaa Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...
based British-Irish journalist Iona Craig complained on Twitter, access to
Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to ...
, which many press agents use to spread news, remained closed inside Yemen, her pleas being ignored. It soon appeared Canadian software company Netsweeper also aids Yemen authorities to censor, even the Houthi government being its customer. In 2011, Forcepoint said it would join the Global Network Initiative, which is focused on privacy and Internet freedom. It left the initiative in 2014. A 2002 study in ''
JAMA ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biom ...
'' found that Forcepoint had the best-performing web-filtering products in terms of blocking
pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,
while allowing health information. In contrast, a 2005 report by the Rhode Island branch of the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
said Forcepoint is a "blunt instrument" and that in public libraries equipped with Forcepoint people of all ages "are still denied access to a wide range of legitimate material." A 2006 report by
Brennan Center for Justice The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is a nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Generally considered liberal, the Brennan C ...
found that Forcepoint often blocked websites that discussed pornography, but did not actually feature pornography. The software also blocked a furniture website called "the-strippers.com ", which is not pornographic, but a website for a furniture refinisher. In the author's study, 0-15 percent of the sites blocked by Forcepoint should have been viewable by the user and 10 percent of objectionable websites were let through, rather than blocked. According to blogger Jillian York, Forcepoint blocks pages that contain pornographic links anywhere in its content, even in the comments section. He said "a malicious attacker could get your whole site blocked at any time by the simple procedure of leaving dangerous, malicious or pornographic links in a blog's comments". For approximately 15 minutes in 2009, Forcepoint classified router company
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
's website under 'hack sites', due to one of Cisco's
IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
es being named on a
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
website. The IP address was reviewed, and deemed not a threat.


References

{{Dot-com Bubble American companies established in 1994 Software companies established in 1994 Computer security companies 1994 establishments in California 2000 initial public offerings Computer surveillance Dot-com bubble Firewall software 2021 mergers and acquisitions Defense companies of the United States Software companies based in Texas Software companies of the United States Companies based in Austin, Texas Private equity portfolio companies