Websense has developed a threat detection system designed to spot Web 2.0 attacks soon after they are launched.

Called HoneyJax, the system will root out attacks on social networking sites, blogs and wikis, and then update the company's Web Security Suite to protect users from malicious Web sites or pages.

Similar to "honeypot" systems, which are placed on the Internet to lure conventional online attackers, HoneyJax is designed to attract this new generation of Web-based attacks, said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research with Websense. The system "allows you to track exploits in the Web 2.0 world and helps assist in the identification of misuse of these technologies," he said.

Hubbard will be introducing the technology Sunday at a DefCon conference in Las Vegas.

Sites like MySpace.com are forced to perform a balancing act as they free their users to develop cool new features for the Web sites, security expert say. That's because cool new Web 2.0 features often come at the expense of security.

MySpace.com has been the subject of several attacks over the past year, including a phishing incident in late June where dozens of user accounts were hijacked and used to attack visiting computers.