leggimi.eu

History

Early history and background

Malwarebytes was informally established in 2004. ^[5] CEO and founder Marcin Kleczynski , originally from Poland, was a teenager attending high school in Bensonville, Illinois at the time, and was working as a technician in a computer repair shop in Chicago. ^[6] He noticed that when infected computers arrived, they would reformat the computer, regardless of whether the infection was only minor. McAfee nor Symantec would have found that McAfee nor Symantec would remove the malware from its system. ^[7]He later recalled “I’ve never been as angry as when I got my computer infected”, and professed that he was under the influence of death. ^[8] It was only after Kleczynski posted on the forum that it was able to take care of it, which took three days. The company was unofficially founded after this, when Kleczynski conversed and became friends with several of the editors of the forum. ^[7]

With one of the site’s regulars, Bruce Harrison, Kleczynski wrote the inaugural version of the company’s software. ^[8] In 2006, a RogueRemover (RogueRemover) program was developed to address the issue of “RogueRemover”. through fake anti-virus software. RogueRemover proved instrumental in developing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Kleczynski was able to set up a forum that enabled him to improve the software through feedback. ^[7] Kleczynski and Harrison formally launched Malwarebytes on January 21, 2008 while Kleczynski was studying computer science at the University of Illinois .^[8] Bruce became the VP of Research for Malwarebytes, and further hired Doug Swanson, with experience in freeware development to work for the new company. Marcus Chung, an e-commerce expert who worked for GreenBorder, was hired as chief operating officer. ^[7] [9] Kleczynski and Harrison reportedly made $ 600,000 in their first year of selling the software, despite not having the time. ^[10]

Post-2010 developments

In 2011, Malwarebytes gained HPhosts, a website blacklisting company, which tracks blacklisted websites and ad servers, a necessary development to protect against new internet protocol addresses and web servers that distribute malware, and advise internet service providers to shut down those with malicious activity. ^[11] That year, the company has claimed to be removed from five billion pieces of Malware in three years. ^[9] The following year, the company launched an enterprise- wide enterprise with desktop-based anti-malware detection and protection. ^[12]In 2013, Malwarebytes acquired ZeroVulnerabilityLabs, Inc., a security research and development company founded by Pedro Bustamante, which protects software applications from “known and zero-day exploits used by exploit kits, web-based vulnerability exploits and other corporate-targeted attacks” . ^[13] They expanded Their malware removal and protection to the Android platform with the launch of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Mobile , ^[14] and has lancé USB -based product called Expired Malwarebytes Techbench avocation at helping technicians remove malware. ^[15]

In 2014, Malwarebytes received $ 30 million in funding from Highland Capital, and by the following year, it accounted for 250 million computers worldwide, representing about 20-25% of working business computers. ^[10] By 2013 it has been claimed to have removed five billion malware threats from computers in its first five years. ^[16] In June 2015, the company annoncé That It Was moving icts headquarters from 10 Almaden Boulevard in San Jose, Californiato a new 52,000 square feet (4,800 m ² ) office space on the two top floors of the 12-story 3979 Freedom Circle in Santa Clara, California. The new office is more than twice the size of the former office. The company reported a growth of 10 million users in just one year, from 25 to 35 million active users at the time, and an increase in revenue by 1653% in 2014. ^[8] In 2015, Kleczynski was named one of Forbes Magazine’s’ 30 Under 30 ‘. ^[17]

In January 2016, Malwarebytes unveiled advanced anti-ransomware Endpoint Security package, ^[18] and announced that it had raised $ 50 million in investment from Fidelity Management and Research Company. Kleczynski stated that the funds would be used primarily for the company’s hiring, product development and marketing assets. ^[10] In June, Malwarebytes announced a strong growth in over 75% in the first quarter of 2015, with billings surpassing $ 100 million. The corporate subscription base is grown by 90%. ^[19] In September, Proofpoint, Inc.CEO Gary Steele joined the company’s Board of Directors, with Kleczynski citing his deep expertise in the security software industry, and his proven ability [at] increasing sales revenue “as the main reasons for his appointment. ^[20] In October the company purchased AdwCleaner, a Windows program used to clean adware from computers. ^[21] In February 2017 the company acquired Saferbytes, an Italian security start-up specialized in anti-malware, anti-exploit, anti-rootkit, AV cloud, and sandbox technologies. ^[22]

In December 2016, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware was updated. It’s built with 3 flagship products (Anti-Malware, Anti-Exploit and Anti-Ransomware). They renamed Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes now also functions as an anti-virus according to their release statement.

Services and products

Marcin Kleczynski CEO Marcin Kleczynski states that it was developed in 2008, when many of the victims were developed in the late 1990s and had little idea of ​​what malware would look like 15 years down the line. He states that this makes it “easier for us to adapt as malware evolves”. ^[7] The New York Times describes their system as a “hybrid of heuristics, behavior and a signature engine that can not detect”. ^[11] According to Dean Takahashi of VentureBeatSymantec and McAfee, with the anti-malware working with the anti-virus software to attack the problem from “different directions”. He remarked that Malwarebytes “cleans off machines that are already infected”, while “the pro version stops your machine from getting infected in the first place”. ^[9]

As in the early development days with RogueRemover, Malwarebytes thrives on community feedback. It runs two sub-forums complementing the main forum, known as “False positive” and “Malware contribution”, with the false positive being reported allowing the company to update its database within just hours, and the Malware contribution what is missing and download it. ^[7] Kleczynski had been quoted as saying, “We are still trying to build our business.” ^[10]

Products

Malwarebytes has several products, which as of 2011 were available in 36 different languages. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware offers two different versions, one for free download for home computers, and the other a professional version, with a 14-day free trial in advance, offering “real-time protection against malware, automated scanning, and automatic updating” . ^[11]Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Mobile is a free Android app that protects smartphones from mobile malware, preventing unauthorized access to personal data identification tracking applications. ^[23] It has a rating of 4.4 on the Google Play store. ^[24] In 2014, the company launched Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 2.0 with an improved user interfaceand dashboard. ^[25]

In 2014 the company launched Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, which shields selected applications from attacks by “exploit mitigation to protect vulnerable programs”. ^[5] Anti-Exploit aussi comes in a free and paid for release for Windows computers . The free version stops exploits in browser and Java , while the paid product adds protection for a wider range of software applications. ^[26]Anti-Exploit received from PC Magazine ^[27] and won V3 magazine’s “Security Innovation of the Year” award. ^[28]

In July 2015, Malwarebytes acquired AdwareMedic and released Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac, which detects malware, adware , and other unwanted programs on Macintoshcomputers. ^[29]

In January 2016, Malwarebytes unveiled Malwarebytes Endpoint Security, advanced anti-ransomware technology which is described as the “first solution to offer multiple layers of protection against unknown ransomware”. The company sponsored a survey with Osterman Research into 540 firms in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany and found That Nearly 40% of companies HAD Experienced ransomeware incidents of qui 34 percent HAD Accounted for loss of revenue. ^[18] The Guardian reported that one-fifth of British companies had been paying more than $ 10,000 to unlock their files and increase their demand for anti-ransomeware technology. ^[30]After Endpoint’s inception, the beta was reported by some 200,000 businesses and consumers in the first six months of the year. ^[18]

Malwarebytes also has a lot of tools such as a Junkware Removal Tool to remove adware, an Anti-Rootkit Beta to remove and repair rootkits, StartUpLITE to boost the speed of Windows reboot and FileASSASSIN to prevent locked files. ^[5]

License and Privacy

The License ^[31] requires arbitration “in the county where you reside”, forbids class action suits, reverse engineering and sharing, and limits warranties and liability. Even the free version can not be shared.

The Privacy Policy ^[32]lists many types of information, including other software running on a user’s computer (“programs installed or in use”). Malwarebytes says they collect “name, email address, mailing address, or phone number … company name, company size, business type … Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referral / exit pages, the files viewed on our site … operating system, date / time stamp, and / or clickstream data … type of device, operating system version, and the unique device identifier … language … 32 – or 64-bit … If it represents a console system, the number of seats being managed by that installation of the console [,^[32]

There are different limits on their use,

• No limits for what they call “non-personally identifiable information (‘Non-PII’)”. “Non-PII … may include … anonymously generated device identifiers”, ^[32] which are linked to most other data items listed above.
• Limited uses for personal identifiable information (PII), including name, address, phone, company name, size and business type, “we do not share PII with third parties” except for situations listed in the Privacy Policy, which include “may disclaimer PII to government … and private parties … to satisfy … regulation … subpoenas … to protect … the public in general; … to prevent or stop unethical. ” ^[32] They also disclose enough information to provide “advertising based on your browsing activities and interests.” ^[32]

In general they do not put time limits on how long they keep data, except for IP address or when users ask for deletion of PII:

• “we do not retain the IP address… However, we do use it to gather … continent, country, city, and approximate latitude/ longitude … The type of connection (dialup/broadband/satellite/mobile) The ISP… The organization to which the IP address is licensed, if any”.^[32]
• “You may access and modify the PII [personally identifiable information]… If you want us to delete your PII… We will delete your information as soon as possible; however, some information may remain in archived/backup copies for our records or as otherwise required by law. We may retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.”^[32] They define PII to exclude device identifiers, so they do not promise to delete these identifiers and user history.

While the above text says they save locations of IP addresses, including for mobile devices, they do not go further and get GPS locations from mobile devices, “We do not ask for, access or track any location based information from your mobile device at any time while downloading or using our Mobile Apps or Services.”^[32] They do not say if they get antenna locations.

They also collect detailed information on malware and exploits they find, tied to the user’s license number and device identifier, “vendor… File path of exploit process… Command-line arguments passed to the exploit… (Potentially) a copy of the exploit executable itself”.^[32] They do not list the license number as PII.

They have a certificate from TRUSTe, which among other things certifies the company “Limits the information collected and limited in the privacy notice.” ^[33]

Staff

As of 2016 key individuals working for Malwarebytes included: ^[5] [34]

• Marcin Kleczynski – CEO
• Mark Harris – Chief Financial Officer
• Justin Dolly – CIO and Chief Security Officer
• Rebecca Kline – Chief Marketing Officer
• Pedro Bustamante – Vice President of Technology

See also

• Antivirus software
• Comparison of computer viruses

References