Bitdefender

Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity and anti-virus software company.[1] It was founded in 2001 by Florin Talpeș who is currently the chief executive officer.[2] Bitdefender develops and sells anti-virus software, internet security software, endpoint security software, and other cybersecurity products and services.

Not to be confused with ByteDefender.

Bitdefender
Private
IndustryComputer software
Founded2001
FounderFlorin Talpeș
HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Florin Talpeș (CEO)
ProductsSecurity software
ServicesComputer security
Revenue603.2 million lei (2017)
(US$ 140.7 million)
Websitewww.bitdefender.com

As of 2018, the software has about 500 million users 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]

Bitdefender products

Bitdefender develops and markets anti-virus, internet security, endpoint security, and other cyber security products and services.

Consumer products

Bitdefender's Internet of things device protection solution is called Bitdefender BOX. The box is a router designed to protect smart home products and Internet of Things devices by blocking malicious internet traffic. It is available on both Windows and Mac.

Bitdefender offers a cloud-based security solution with anti-malware and anti-theft capabilities for Android and iOS users that is called Bitdefender Mobile Security.

Business products

For businesses, the company markets the Bitdefender GravityZone for Enterprise Security. It includes Self-configuring kits for deployment from desktop to datacenter to cloud, software that secures physical, virtual and cloud-based endpoints, and software that uses a Network of malware data to stay updated.[5] Its software product for small businesses looking for simple security called Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security.

Bitdefender technologies

Bitdefender Antispam NeuNet

Bitdefender Antispam NeuNet,[6] is an antispam filter trained by the Bitdefender Antispam Lab on a series of spam messages, so that it learns to recognize new spam by perceiving its similarities with the messages it has already examined.

B-HAVE

In May 2006 Bitdefender developed a new technology, B-HAVE, to reduce dependency on virus signatures through proactive detection of unknown threats. This technology is based on a behavioral analysis in a virtualized environment.[7]

Active Virus Control

Bitdefender introduced Active Virus Control in August 2009. This technology continuously monitors each program (specific processes) running on the PC as it executes, and it notes any malware-like actions. Each action is scored and, when a given threshold is reached, the process is reported as harmful.

Photon Technology

In its 2014 version, the company claimed to feature a new technology called "Photon Technology", which it says visibly improves computer speed and performance by gradually adapting to each PC.[8]

Content filtering technologies

Content filtering technologies have been developed to filter raw online content and are applicable and used in antispam, anti-phishing, web filtering, scanning of spam and social networks. They facilitate the creation of signatures to proactively detect never-before-seen malicious files.

Machine learning

The company claims that Bitdefender is using cloud-based machine learning to identify new malware, malicious URLs and other online threats by processing and analysing big data to obtain behavioral patterns and predict future advanced threats.

Licensing

In 2015, Qihoo 360 acknowledged accusations by three antivirus testing companies of providing for their testing a version of its anti-virus equipped with a antivirus engine licensed from Bitdefender, while the consumer version used Qihoo's own QVM engine instead.[9][10] Currently, Qihoo's 360 product includes Bitdefender, Avira and Qihoo-developed engine.[11]


Criticism

Support

In May 2009, customers criticized Bitdefender's support service for lack of responses.[12] Bitdefender responded by saying they were aware of the problems, and that they would take steps to solve it. They attributed the problem to an unexpectedly high surge in customers.[12] Currently, the company's website claims that support is available 24/7 on telephone, email, online chat, and an online knowledge base.[13]

Trojan.FakeAlert.5

On 20 March 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.[14] Bitdefender representatives announced the removal of the faulty update and a workaround for the users affected,[15] except for those using the 2008 version.[16]

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 "NDIS Asus driver (WinpkFilter LightWeight Filter), which prevents the installation of some Bitdefender files".[17]

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 Management". 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. "Bitdefender GravityZone Enterprise Security". Bitdefender. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. Bitdefender Antispam NeuNet
  7. "B-HAVE – The Road To Success". Security-int.com. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009.
  8. https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/Bitdefender-Photon%E2%84%A2-66.html
  9. Wan, Adrian (5 May 2015). "Qihoo cuts ties with three antivirus testing firms in software dispute". South China Morning Post.
  10. Keizer, Gregg (1 May 2015). "Antivirus test labs call out Chinese security company as cheat". Computerworld.
  11. [=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/360-total-security/9nblggh1np58 =https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/360-total-security/9nblggh1np58] Check |url= value (help). Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. "BitDefender support issues". Pcworld.com. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  13. "Support Center". Bitdefender.com. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  14. McMillan, Robert. "Bad Bitdefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs". PC World.
  15. "Trojan.FakeAlert.5 Update issue". Archived from the original on 24 March 2010.
  16. Peter Bright (22 March 2010). "Bitdefender update breaks 64-bit Windows PCs".
  17. "Bitdefender installation fails due to ASUS AI Suite software - Bitdefender Support Centre". bitdefender.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
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