Today it was announced that Dasient, the leader in anti-malware technology, has been acquired by Twitter, the micoblogging/social networking site.

The Dasient team is excited to announce that we have been acquired by Twitter! Effective immediately, we will be bringing our technology, tools, and team to the revenue engineering team at Twitter.

Since its inception, Dasient has been focused on solving web-scale security problems involving malware and other types of online abuse. In 2009, Dasient launched its web anti-malware platform, capable of scanning URLs and websites for the presence of harmful content. In 2010, Dasient launched the industry’s first anti-malvertising service to protect ad networks and publishers from the scourge of malicious ads. 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.
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.

This isn’t Twitter’s first security-related acquisition.  Back in November Twitter acquired Whisper Systems, a company that provides security and management solutions for Android devices to make them enterprise-ready.  Twitter is buffing up their security since it has been plagued by malware since God knows when, using their service to spread malicious malware to unsuspecting users.

Mobile is an important area of focus for Twitter moving forward with its security offerings, though the web still has a huge impact on today’s malware scene.  For a platform as transient as Twitter, ramping up security on both fronts will be a necessity as Twitter’s ecosystem grows to include more media-sharing, advertising and services.