Bitdefender

Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity technology company[1] headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, with offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.[2]

Not to be confused with ByteDefender.

Bitdefender
TypePrivate
IndustryComputer software
FoundedNovember 6, 2001 (2001-11-06)
FounderFlorin Talpeș
HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Florin Talpeș (CEO)
ProductsCybersecurity software
ServicesComputer security
Number of employees
1600+ (2019)
Websitewww.bitdefender.com

The company was founded in 2001 by the current CEO and main shareholder, Florin Talpes. Bitdefender develops and delivers cybersecurity products and services for companies and families, including endpoint protection, cloud and managed security, antivirus software and IoT security. Bitdefender technologies are used by 38% of all global cybersecurity vendors and 500 million users worldwide. Bitdefender products are distributed through partners in over 150 countries[2] and the US market generates more than 40% of its revenues.

As of 2020, the company employs more than 1,600 people worldwide.[2] The company currently holds 440 technology patents. 10% of patents pertain to machine-learning algorithms for detecting malware and other online threats, with deep learning and anomaly-based detection techniques playing an important role in proactively fighting new and unknown threats.

As of January 2018, Bitdefender ranks seventh globally among Microsoft Windows anti-malware application vendors.

In 2018, Bitdefender security solutions had about 500 million systems protected worldwide.[3]

History

Bitdefender software was originally developed by SOFTWIN and sold as AVX (Antivirus Expert) from 1996 until 2001, when its name was changed. In 2007, SOFTWIN spun off Bitdefender.[4]

Company milestones

1990: Creation of Softwin, one of the first IT start-ups in post-communist Romania.

The rapid growth of computer viruses led to the development of Softwin AVX (AntiVirus eXpert)

2001: The Bitdefender subsidiary was created. AVX solution was rebranded under the Bitdefender name.

2004: First offices outside Romania in US, Germany and UK.

Further expansion in the Middle East (2011) and Denmark for the Nordics Region (2015).

2007: Bitdefender became a separate business entity with external capital entry.

Axxess Capital Investment Fund entered the company’s shareholding.[5]

2011: Bitdefender launches enterprise range and virtualization security product.

2015: Bitdefender creates a new consumer product category with Bitdefender BOX and IoT security services.[6]

2017: Bitdefender makes its first major acquisition by acquiring French partner Profil Technology Source.[7]

British fund Vitruvian buys a 30% stake in the company. The transaction values Bitdefender at more than $600 million.[8]

2018: Bitdefender creates a new subsidiary in Australia through the acquisition of assets from business partner SMS eTech.[9]

Bitdefender acquires behavioral and network security analytics company RedSocks.[10]

2019: Bitdefender opens its own Security Operations Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Bitdefender products

Bitdefender develops and markets cybersecurity products and services for companies and consumers including endpoint protection (with hardening and risk analytics capabilities), extended detection and response, multi-cloud security, and managed detection and response, antivirus software, IoT security, VPN and privacy services. The company also delivers most of its products and services to Managed Services Providers or to System Integrators (OEM).

Consumer products

Bitdefender offers complete protection for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.

Bitdefender Total Security provides advanced protection for Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android.

With automatic updates and upgrades, Bitdefender Total Security gives users up-to-date technologies that predict, prevent, detect and eliminate the latest cyber-threats, including malware and ransomware. Total Security brings network-based protection, prevents exploitation of vulnerabilities, and detects and blocks brute-force attempts and botnet attacks from compromising devices, while keeping sensitive information safe.

Bitdefender BOX was launched in 2015[11] as the first-ever consumer cybersecurity hub to protect the entire connected home. It received a substantial upgrade in 2017 in the form of Bitdefender BOX 2, which could work as a stand-alone router, in addition to connecting to an existing home gateway or personal router. Its main feature is the way it can protect all web-connected devices in the smart home, even IoTs that cannot normally run security software. Bitdefender BOX works at the network level to block malware, prevent stolen passwords, identity theft, hacker attacks and other types of cyber-attacks, and includes specialized local protection for Windows, macOS, Android & iOS devices. In 2018, Bitdefender BOX was honored by CES Innovation Awards in the Cybersecurity category.[12]

Bitdefender VPN protects users’ online presence by encrypting all internet traffic. Bitdefender Premium VPN is fast, easy-to-use secure VPN that takes its users off-network and helps them access the “true Internet”, the Internet without borders.[13]

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection continuously monitors users’ personal information and sends alerts in real time in case of a data breach. This way, users can change passwords and secure their accounts to prevent any financial loss or social media impersonations.

Business products

For businesses, the company markets its Bitdefender GravityZone portfolio.[14] It includes products and solutions addressing a wide spectrum, each designed to answer the needs of specific organizations, from small businesses all the way up to large enterprises. All products are built on the same security platform, which was designed from the ground up in 2012 for virtualization and cloud to deliver security services to physical endpoints, mobile devices, virtual machines in private, public cloud and Exchange mail servers.  As a result, Bitdefender products and solutions include self-configuring kits for deployment from desktop to data-center to cloud, software that secures physical, virtual and cloud-based endpoints, and software that uses a Network of malware data to stay updated . Bitdefender’s flagship solution is called Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus, and includes hardening and risk analytics, EPP, XDR and MDR, honored as a top CRN tech innovator in the 2020 Security – Managed Detection & Response category.

Bitdefender has also expanded its portfolio to provide managed detection and response services, as part of its own security operations center in San Antonio, TX.

Business products awards

The quality of the business portfolio was recognized by various international awards:

2019: Leader, Forrester® WAVE™ for Cloud Workload Security[15]

2020: Strong Performer, Forrester® WAVE™ for Endpoint Detection And Response[16]

2020: Top Player, Radicati Group for Endpoint Security Market Quadrant[17]

Fighting cyber-crime

Bitdefender advises Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in supporting investigations into criminal activity in cyberspace, sharing relevant data and knowledge and striking the right balance between disruption, prevention, investigation and prosecution. The company is involved in ongoing cooperation with international law enforcement actors such as local, regional and international police offices to support the fight against crime.[18]

Bitdefender is also part of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord for a safer online world, a collaboration among global technology companies committed to protecting their customers and users and helping them defend against malicious threats.[19]

Technology milestones

2000: Bitdefender is the 1st AV worldwide to offer intelligent updating and to include an application firewall.[2]

2002: MIDAS: Malware Intrusion Detection Advanced System awarded the IST prize. Proprietary Antispam tech and the hourly update system released.

2006: B-HAVE: Behavioral Heuristic Analyzer in Virtual Environments. Spam Image Filter.

2008: Active Threat Control (also known as Process Inspector): proactive technology for live detecting and blocking of new threats in real time, on a live system. QuickScan: the quickest free tool to diagnose computer infections.

2011: Security for Virtualized Environments: 1st complete security solution for virtualized datacenters. Bitdefender Photon™: optimizes scanning speed and drastically reduces the impact of system resources.

2013: GravityZone architecture: to deploy the security solution in less than 2 hours, with scalability and load balancing capabilities. Hypervisor-based memory introspection technology protecting against advanced attacks.

2014: Zero-footprint VM introspection: on-the-fly detection and remediation for guest Virtual Machines.

2015: Bitdefender BOX and IoT security services: integrated home cybersecurity protecting all household devices, including IoT - created a new product category.

2017: Bitdefender becomes first security vendor to offer hypervisor-enforced security, preventing advanced attacks in the data center.

Bitdefender unveils cloud-based Endpoint Detection and Response solution.

Bitdefender announces availability of Bitdefender BOX 2 - The Next-Generation Security Hub for the Connected Home.

2018: Following Netherland-based RedSocks, Bitdefender expands portfolio and addressable market into network security and analytics territory.

Independent tests

Bitdefender has a history of #1 rankings with independent testing organizations. For the past nine years, it has dominated AV-TEST protection results, duethanks to its innovative technology mix.[20] In 2019, Bitdefender won AV-Comparatives’ top award for the fourth time since 2012. Bitdefender has now won more ‘Product of the Year’ awards from the prestigious independent analysis firm over the past decade than any other company.[21]

Criticism

Support

In May 2009, customers criticized Bitdefender's support service for lack of responses. Bitdefender responded by saying they were aware of the problems, and would take steps to solve it. They attributed the problem to an unexpectedly strong surge in customers.[22] The company's website claimed that support was available 24/7 on telephone, email, online chat, and an online knowledge base.

Trojan.FakeAlert.5

On March 20, 2010, computers running Bitdefender under 64-bit versions of Windows were affected by a malfunctioning update which classified every executable program as well as dll files as infected. These files were all marked as 'Trojan.FakeAlert.5' and were moved into quarantine. This action led to software and systems malfunctions that affected users around the world.[23] Bitdefender representatives announced the removal of the faulty update and a workaround for the users affected,[24] except for those using the 2008 version.[25]

Asus AiSuite incompatibility

Bitdefender is incompatible with Asus AiSuite2 and Asus AiSuite3, a motherboard optimization suite of software bundled with Asus motherboards which enables automatic overclocking, power tuning and fan control. Bitdefender claims that the incompatibility is due to the "NDIS Asus driver (WinpkFilter LightWeight Filter), which prevents the installation of some Bitdefender files".[26][27]

See also

References
  1. "Interview with Florin Talpes, CEO at Bitdefender". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  2. "Bitdefender Long Description". Bitdefender. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  3. "Anti-malware vendors: global market share 2018 | Statistic". Statista. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  4. "Definition of: Bitdefender". PC Magazine Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  5. "M&A alert. Vitruvian Partners buys stake in Bitdefender from Axxess Capital". Business Review (in Romanian). 1 December 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. "IoT News - Bitdefender BOX : the ultimate security solution for smart home environments?". IoT Business News. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  7. "Romania's Bitdefender buys France's Profil Technology". seenews.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  8. Reuters Staff (1 December 2017). "Vitruvian buys 30 pct stake in Romanian cyber security firm Bitdefender". Reuters. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  9. "Romania's Bitdefender buys Australian partner SMS eTech". seenews.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  10. Bitdefender. "Bitdefender Acquires Behavioral and Network Security Analytics Company RedSocks". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  11. "Direct Sales of Bitdefender's The Box Launches New Era in Internet Security". www.bitdefender.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  12. Bitdefender. "Bitdefender BOX Named as CES 2018 Innovation Award Honoree in Newly Created Cybersecurity Category". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  13. "Bitdefender Premium VPN - Ultra Fast Secure VPN Service". Bitdefender. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  14. "Bitdefender GravityZone Enterprise Security". Bitdefender. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  15. Bitdefender. "Bitdefender Named a Leader in Cloud Workload Security by Independent Research Firm". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  16. Bitdefender. "Bitdefender Named a `Strong Performer' in Enterprise Detection and Response, Q1 2020 Report by Independent Research Firm". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  17. "Bitdefender Named Top Player in Endpoint Security by Radicati". AiThority. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  18. "Bitdefender, Europol, Romanian and French Police, FBI Team up for Fourth GandCrab Decryptor". www.bitdefender.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  19. "Cybersecurity Tech Accord". Cybersecurity Tech Accord. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  20. "Test antivirus software Bitdefender". www.av-test.org (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  21. "Awards". AV-Comparatives. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  22. "Common update errors in Bitdefender". Bitdefender. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  23. McMillan, Robert. "Bad Bitdefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs". PC World.
  24. "Trojan.FakeAlert.5 Update issue". Archived from the original on 24 March 2010.
  25. Peter Bright (22 March 2010). "Bitdefender update breaks 64-bit Windows PCs".
  26. "Bitdefender installation fails due to ASUS AI Suite software - Bitdefender Support Centre". bitdefender.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  27. "The Asus vs Bitdefender controversy - Better IT". Retrieved 15 January 2021.
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