| Industry | Computer software Security software |
|---|---|
| Founded | Germany (2013) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | U.S. |
| Products | MacKeeper |
| Website | http://kromtech.com/ |
Kromtech Alliance Corp. is a Security software organization and IT investment and development company that develops software and provides customer support services for Apple's Mac OS. Kromtech Alliance Corp [1] previously owned and distributed MacKeeper, Memory Keeper, and the anti-theft application Track My Mac.
MacKeeper is a software and a service for macOS to protect Mac users from malware, online threats, and identity theft along with Mac performance optimization. Kromtech Alliance Corp. purchased MacKeeper from the developer ZeoBit in April, 2013. Under Zeobit a class action lawsuit was filed against MacKeeper because the company allegedly deceived users into paying for unneeded fixes. The lawsuit was settled in 2015 for US$2 million [2] [3] with no admission of wrongdoing. In 2018 the company started taking steps to eliminate affiliates, engaged in aggressive sales techniques to promote the sale of the software. In 2019 the company announced the major transformation led by the new international executive team members. At the end of 2019 product and service of MacKeeper received AppEsteem Certification.
MemoryKeeper is an app for controlling the memory usage on a Mac computer. It frees up Random-access memory or RAM and has automatic cleanup setting that gives priority. Kromtech Alliance Corp. released MemoryKeeper in November 2014 and it has been well received on Apple's iTunes. [4]
Track My Mac is an anti-theft application launched in February 2016. It allows users to lock and unlock a lost or stolen computer remotely and to photograph whoever is using the lost or stolen computer.
In June 2014, Avira licensed [5] its antivirus technology to Kromtech Alliance Corp. The licensing agreement allows Kromtech to use Avira's Secure Antivirus API (SAVAPI), the official interface for Avira's anti-malware scanning engine. Avira's anti-malware scanning technology runs as a service in the background, accepting the scan requests from MacKeeper.
In December 2015 security researcher Chris Vickery discovered a misconfigured database of 13 million encrypted Kromtech accounts. [6] In January 2016 Kromtech Alliance Corp and Chris Vickery announced a partnership to establish a security research center. [7]
In October 2017, Kromtech discovered a leak of the health data of 150,000 patients. [8]
At the end of 2019 certain assets of Kromtech were acquired by London-based digital security and internet privacy company Clario Tech Limited, [9] who showcased their consumer digital security software at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. [10]
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process. The software may generate two types of revenue: one is for the display of the advertisement and another on a "pay-per-click" basis, if the user clicks on the advertisement. Some advertisements also act as spyware, collecting and reporting data about the user, to be sold or used for targeted advertising or user profiling. The software may implement advertisements in a variety of ways, including a static box display, a banner display, full screen, a video, pop-up ad or in some other form. All forms of advertising carry health, ethical, privacy and security risks for users.
Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive users access to information or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. By contrast, software that causes harm due to some deficiency is typically described as a software bug. Malware poses serious problems to individuals and businesses. According to Symantec’s 2018 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), malware variants number has increased to 669,947,865 in 2017, which is twice as many malware variants as in 2016. Cybercrime, which includes malware attacks as well as other crimes committed by computer, was predicted to cost the world economy 6 trillion dollars in 2021, and is increasing at a rate of 15% per year.
Antivirus software, or antivirus software, also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware.
Avast Software s.r.o. is a Czech multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic that researches and develops computer security software, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Avast has more than 435 million monthly active users and the second largest market share among anti-malware application vendors worldwide as of April 2020. The company has approximately 1,700 employees across its 25 offices worldwide. In July 2021, NortonLifeLock, an American cybersecurity company, announced that it is in talks to merge with Avast Software. In August 2021, Avast's board of directors agreed to an offer of US$8 billion.
Adaware, formerly known as Lavasoft, is a software development company that produces spyware and malware detection software, including Adaware. It operates as a subsidiary of Avanquest a division of Claranova.
Ewido Networks was a software company based in Germany known for creating Ewido Anti-Spyware. Ewido Anti-Spyware was software used to remove malware such as spyware, trojan horses, adware, dialers, and worms. It also featured real-time protection, automatic updates, and other privacy features. Ewido had both a free version, and a paid version which added realtime protection, and automatic updates.
This a non-exhaustive list of notable antivirus and Internet Security software, in the form of comparison tables, according to their platform and their operating systems.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus is a proprietary antivirus program developed by Kaspersky Lab. It is designed to protect users from malware and is primarily designed for computers running Microsoft Windows and macOS, although a version for Linux is available for business consumers.
VirusTotal is a website created by the Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas. Launched in June 2004, it was acquired by Google in September 2012. The company's ownership switched in January 2018 to Chronicle, a subsidiary of Google.
Malwarebytes is an anti-malware software for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, Android, and iOS that finds and removes malware. Made by Malwarebytes Corporation, it was first released in January 2006. It is available in a free version, which scans for and removes malware when started manually, and a paid version, which additionally provides scheduled scans, real-time protection and a flash-memory scanner.
Malwarebytes Inc. is an American Internet security company that specializes in protecting home computers, smartphones, and companies from malware and other threats. It has offices in Santa Clara, California; Clearwater, Florida; Tallinn, Estonia; and Cork, Ireland.
Trend Micro Internet Security is an antivirus and online security program developed by Trend Micro for the consumer market. According to NSS Lab comparative analysis of software products for this market in 2014, Trend Micro Internet Security was fastest in responding to new internet threats.
Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG is a German multinational computer security software company mainly known for their antivirus software Avira Free Security. Avira was founded in 2006, but the antivirus application has been under active development since 1986, through its predecessor company H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH. As of 2021, Avira is owned by American software company NortonLifeLock, after being previously owned by investment firm Investcorp.
Avast Antivirus is a family of cross-platform internet security applications developed by Avast for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. The Avast Antivirus products include freeware and paid versions that provide computer security, browser security, antivirus software, firewall, anti-phishing, antispyware, and anti-spam among other services.
Mac Defender is an internet rogue security program that targets computers running macOS. The Mac security firm Intego discovered the fake antivirus software on 2 May 2011, with a patch not being provided by Apple until 31 May. The software has been described as the first major malware threat to the Macintosh platform. However, it is not the first Mac-specific Trojan, and is not self-propagating.
MacKeeper is utility software distributed by Clario Tech Limited. MacKeepers was developed by ZeoBIT and is presently distributed by Clario Tech. The first beta version was released on 13 May 2010. It is designed to operate on computers running macOS. Versions 1.0 and 2.0 received mixed reviews, while the 3.0 version released in 2015 was reviewed mostly negatively and according to MacWorld was difficult to uninstall. The latest 5.0 version was released in 2020 after Clario Tech acquired Kromtech’s MacKeeper in 2019 and relaunched the software.
Zeobit LLC was a technology and software company formed in 2009 by CEO Slava Kolomiychuk and located in Sunnyvale, California. The company specialized in computer security software and internet security. As of December 2016, it is no longer in business.
PCKeeper is advertised as an optimization services package featuring a set of software utilities for Windows OS owned by Essentware S.A.. It includes 2 separate products for Windows: PCKeeper Live and PCKeeper Antivirus.
Norton, formerly known as Norton by Symantec, is a division of NortonLifeLock, and is based out of Mountain View, California. Since being acquired by the Symantec Corporation in 1990, Norton offered a variety of products and services related to digital security. In 2014, it was announced that Norton's parent company Symantec would split its business into two units - one focused on security, and one focused on information management, with Norton being placed in the unit focused on security.
Clario is a security software development company that offers consumer-facing digital security and privacy applications for use on a range of operating systems including iOS, Android, macOS.
