Twitter-focused URL shortening service Bit.ly has announced partnerships with VeriSign, Websense and Sophos to block spams and malware.

“The partnerships should help solve a major problem with the service: that you don’t know where your browser will take you after you click on a shortened link, which makes Twitter the perfect potential hideaway for spammers, scammers, phishers and the like,” writes Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk.

“Bit.ly owes much of its success to its status as Twitter’s URL shortener of choice — one reason the company raised $2 million earlier this year, while Redirx… which also shortens URLs, is on sale for $47,” Van Buskirk notes.

Click here to read the story at Wired.com.