Offices connected to the internet, and employers soon found staff browsing shopping, sports and worse during work hours. Websense, based in San Diego, built software that sat on a company's network and blocked or logged visits by category. Its database sorted millions of web pages into those categories. Websense went public in March 2000, as businesses rushed to put rules around their new internet connections.

Millions of Pages, Sorted

Websense bet that every company with an internet connection would need a way to manage how it was used. It sold subscriptions to its constantly updated list of categorized sites, and that recurring revenue made the business steady. Schools and government agencies became large customers too. Over time Websense moved into broader security, protecting against malware and data leaks as well as unwanted browsing.

From Websense to Forcepoint

Websense priced its IPO at $18 a share in March 2000 and listed on Nasdaq. It was one of the few offerings of that month to grow into a lasting business. In 2013 Thoma Bravo took Websense private for about $906 million. It later combined with Raytheon's cyber business, and the company was renamed Forcepoint. Its filtering and security products carry on under that name.

Cover: Swiss Sentry at the Louvre, Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a sentry on watch (web filtering).