ESET, s.r.o., is a software company specializing in cybersecurity. ESET's security products are made in Europe[3] and provide security software in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Its software is localized into more than 30 languages.
The company was founded in 1992 in Bratislava, Slovakia. However, its history dates back to 1987, when two of the company's founders, Miroslav Trnka and Peter Paško, developed their first antivirus program called NOD. This sparked an idea between friends to help protect PC users and soon grew into an antivirus software company. At present, ESET is recognized as Europe's biggest privately held cybersecurity company.[4][5][6]
History
1987–1992
The product NOD was launched in Czechoslovakia when the country was part of the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Under the communist regime, private entrepreneurship was banned. It wasn't until 1992 when Miroslav Trnka and Peter Paško, together with Rudolf Hrubý, established ESET as a privately owned limited liability company in the former Czechoslovakia. In parallel with NOD, the company also started developing Perspekt.[7] They adopted the name ESET, from the Czech name of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of health, marriage and love, as the company name.
2003–2017
In 2013, ESET launched WeLiveSecurity,[8] a blog site dedicated to a vast spectrum of security-related topics.
December 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of the company's first security product. To mark its accomplishments, the company released a short documentary [9] describing the company's evolution from the perspective of founders Miroslav Trnka and Peter Paško. In the same year, the company partnered with Google to integrate its technology into Chrome Cleanup.[10]
2018–present
In December 2018, ESET partnered with No More Ransom,[11] a global initiative that provides victims of ransomware decryption keys, thus removing the pressure to pay attackers. The initiative is supported by Interpol and has been joined by various national police forces.[12] ESET has developed technologies to address the threat of ransomware and has produced papers [13][14] documenting its evolution.
ESET became a founding member of Google's App Defense Alliance.[15][16]
Current Management
Position
Management Member
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Marko
Chief Financial Officer
Martin Balušík
Chief Marketing Officer
Mária Trnková
Chief Operating Officer
Palo Luka
Chief Technology Officer
Juraj Malcho
Chief Information Officer
Vladimír Paulen
Chief Sales Officer
Miroslav Mikuš
Branches
ESET operates 22 branches in more than 200 countries. Local distributors are used in other countries.[citation needed]
The first international branch was opened in 1999 in San Diego and the second in the Czech Republic in 2001. Other notable branches include the Buenos Aires office (opened in 2004), Singapore (2013), and Tokyo (2018), which the company used to enter the South American and Asian markets.[citation needed]
International Branches
Company Headquarters, Regional Office for EMEA
Bratislava, Slovakia (opened in 1992)
Regional Offices
San Diego, USA, serving North America (1999)
Buenos Aires, Argentina, serving Central and South America (2004)
Singapore, serving Asia, the Pacific Region, and Australia (2013)
Local Offices and Research & Development Centers
Prague, Czech Republic (2001)
Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic (2008)
Krakow, Poland (2008)
São Paulo, Brazil (2009)
Košice, Slovakia (2010)
Montreal, Canada (2012)
Jena, Germany (2013)
Sydney, Australia (2014)
Toronto, Canada (2015)
Bournemouth, UK (2016)
Munich, Germany (2016)
Taunton, UK (2016)
Brno, Czech Republic (2017)
Žilina, Slovakia (2017)
Iași, Romania (2017)
Melbourne, Australia (2017)
Tokyo, Japan (2018)
Mexico City, Mexico (2018)
Milan, Italy (2019)
Products
ESET provides security products for home and business users. Its products cover all the main operating systems across server, cloud, and mobile deployments.[citation needed]
ESET NOD32 Antivirus and additional related products with a wider suite of security functions, including ESET Smart Security Premium and ESET Internet Security,[17] are upgraded and released on an annual basis.[18] In 2010, ESET released products for macOS, with a business version now called ESET Endpoint Antivirus[19] and a home version called ESET Cyber Security.
ESET also offers products for Android devices. The first version of ESET Mobile Security was announced in 2012.[20] The product offers malware protection and a call filter, an adware detector, payment protection, and theft protection (such as SIM card locking and total data wipes). In 2015, ESET introduced ESET Parental Control,[21] which allows parents to monitor children's use of Android devices.
ESET Smart TV Security, designed to protect Android TV from malware, phishing, and ransomware, was introduced in 2018 at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.[22]
ESET also offers security products that help companies comply with GDPR requirements. These include ESET Secure Authentication, a two-factor authentication solution introduced in 2015,[25] and ESET Endpoint Encryption, which ESET released in 2017 [26] following the integration of DESlock+ products since 2015.[27] ESET Endpoint Encryption offers file, folder, email, and virtual disk encryption, as well as a desktop shredder for secure file deletion.[28]
Along with its individual products and packages, ESET offers services designed mainly for corporations and large companies. These include managed detection and response, premium support, security audits, and incident response.[citation needed]
ESET has 13 R&D centres globally and is an operator in the field of malicious code detection.[29] In 1995, ESET introduced heuristic analysis[30][31] into its detection engine. Heuristic scanners run suspicious files in an in-product sandbox to observe their behavior and assess their risk, meaning that even previously unknown malicious code can be detected.[citation needed]
ESET has been using machine learning in its products, starting with neural networks, since 1997. In 2005, ESET incorporated a machine learning-based technology called DNA Detections, which extracts selected features – called genes – from samples. These genes split samples into clean, malicious and potentially unwanted categories. In 2019, ESET released an Advanced Machine Learning detection layer that can analyze samples locally on endpoints even when offline.[32]
In 2011, ESET replaced ThreatSense.NET with ESET LiveGrid®,[33] a cloud-based reputation system that evaluates unknown or suspicious samples submitted anonymously by millions of ESET-protected endpoints from around the world for machine learning analysis on servers in Bratislava.[33] If a sample is identified as malicious, it is given a low score and this information is shared with all ESET-protected endpoints through the ESET LiveGrid® Reputation System, thus keeping users protected from threats found in other parts of the world.[citation needed]
ESET's Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) monitors system activity and uses predefined rules to recognize suspicious behavior. The HIPS self-defense mechanism stops the offending process from carrying out the harmful activity or – if a more detailed analysis is necessary – performs further inspection via its internal modules. ESET has developed several modules for HIPS, including Advanced Memory Scanner, Exploit Blocker, Ransomware Shield, and Deep Behavioral Inspection.[citation needed]
In 2012, ESET introduced Exploit Blocker,[34] which monitors commonly abused applications for suspicious activity that might indicate an exploit. Monitored applications include web browsers, document readers, email clients, Adobe Flash, Java, and components of Microsoft Office. Exploit Blocker helps to protect users from new and unknown threats and zero-day attacks.
Advanced Memory Scanner was introduced in HIPS in 2013. This module addresses the use of obfuscation and encryption by malware authors to let their code run "in-memory only" and thus avoid detection and further analysis. Advanced Memory Scanner monitors the behavior of this code once it decloaks in memory.[citation needed]
Introduced in 2017, Ransomware Shield[35] monitors and evaluates all executed applications using behavioral and reputation-based heuristics (relying on ESET LiveGrid®). If a behavior that resembles ransomware is identified, such as the encryption of files, Ransomware Shield either blocks the application or notifies the user, who can then choose to block the activity.
In 2019, ESET released Deep Behavioral Inspection,[36] which enables HIPS to thoroughly inspect API calls made by suspicious or unknown processes. If the process is clearly malicious, Deep Behavioral Inspection mitigates the activity and informs the user. If the process is suspicious, HIPS can use the data gathered by Deep Behavioral Inspection to run further analysis via its other components or request additional examination via technologies that are part of the broader ESET scanning engine.
ESET also uses additional security layers including Botnet Protection,[37] Network Attack Protection,[38]Script-Based Attacks Protection,[39] and Brute-Force Attack Protection.[40]
In 2017, ESET became the first security company in the world to implement a UEFI Scanner.[41] UEFI is a firmware that is loaded into a computer's memory during the startup process. The scanner can identify threats while the computer is booting up, before standard detection modules start running.
Malware research
ESET dedicates part of its operations to malware research, as well as to the monitoring of advanced persistent threat groups and other cybercriminal groups, with 40% of the company's employees working in research.[42]
One of the groups that ESET tracked is Sandworm. After the 2015 attack on the Ukrainian power grid and the global NotPetya ransomware attack in 2017 – both attributed to Sandworm – ESET discovered Sandworm (more specifically, a subgroup that ESET tracks as TeleBots) deploying a new backdoor called Exaramel, which is a version of the main Industroyer backdoor. As Industroyer was used in the 2016 blackout in Ukraine,[43] ESET linked Industroyer to NotPetya, as well as to BlackEnergy, which was used in the 2015 blackout.[44]
At the time of the NotPetya outbreak, ESET and Cisco tracked down the point from which the global ransomware attack had started to companies afflicted with a TeleBots backdoor, resulting from the compromise of M.E.Doc, a popular financial software in Ukraine.[45]
In March 2021, when Microsoft released out-of-band patches to fix the ProxyLogon vulnerability affecting on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server, ESET discovered more than 10 APT groups leveraging the vulnerability to compromise them. ProxyLogon allows an attacker to take over any reachable Exchange server, even without knowing valid account credentials.[citation needed]
In addition, ESET found that multiple threat actors had access to the details of the vulnerabilities even before the release of the patches. Except for DLTMiner, which is linked to a known cryptomining campaign, all of these threat actors are APT groups interested in espionage: Tick, LuckyMouse, Calypso, Websiic, Winnti Group, Tonto Team, ShadowPad activity, The "Opera" Cobalt Strike, IIS backdoors, Mikroceen, DLTMiner,[46] and FamousSparrow.[47]
Another focus of ESET's research is on threats to Android devices. ESET discovered the first clipper malware in the Google Play Store called Android/Clipper.C,[48] which can manipulate clipboard content. In the case of a cryptocurrency transaction, a wallet address copied to the clipboard could be quietly switched to one belonging to the attacker.[citation needed]
In the area of IoT research, ESET discovered the KrØØk vulnerability (CVE-2019-15126) in Broadcom and Cypress Wi-Fi chips, which allows WPA2-encrypted traffic to be encrypted with an all zero session key following a Wi-Fi disassociation.[49] Then ESET discovered another KrØØk related vulnerability (CVE-2020-3702) in chips by Qualcomm and MediaTek, as well as in the Microsoft Azure Sphere development kit, with the main difference being that the traffic is not encrypted at all.[50]
Other notable research includes the discovery of LoJax, the first UEFIrootkit found in the wild, which was used in a campaign by the Sednit (aka Fancy Bear) APT group. LoJax is written to a system's SPI flash memory from where it is able to survive an OS reinstall and a hard disk replacement. LoJax can drop and execute malware on disk during the boot process.[51] In 2021, ESET discovered another UEFI malware called ESPecter,[52] which is the second real-world bootkit after FinSpy[53] known to persist on the EFI System Partition in the form of a patched Windows Boot Manager.
In 2021, ESET released the white paper Anatomy of native IIS malware,[54] which analyzed over 80 unique samples of malicious native extensions for Internet Information Services (IIS) web server software used in the wild and categorized these into 14 malware families — 10 of which were previously undocumented.
Among these families, IIS malware demonstrated five main modes of operation:
IIS backdoors, which can remotely control compromised computers;
IIS infostealers, which steal information such as login credentials and payment information;
IIS injectors, which modify HTTP responses sent to legitimate visitors to serve malicious content;
IIS proxies, which use the compromised server as unwitting parts of the command and control infrastructure for another malware family; and
SEO fraud IIS malware, which modifies the content served to search engines.
ESET also works alongside experts from competitors and police organizations all over the world to investigate attacks. In 2018, ESET partnered with the European Cybercrime Centre — a specialist Europol team that investigates cybercrime — as a member of its Advisory Group on Internet Security.[55][56] ESET partnered with law enforcement agencies worldwide and Microsoft to target the Dorkbotbotnet in 2015 [57] and the Gamarue (aka Andromeda) botnet in 2017.[58] Then in 2020, ESET partnered with Microsoft, Lumen's Black Lotus Labs, and NTT Ltd. in an attempt to disrupt Trickbot, another botnet.[59]
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 access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. Researchers tend to classify malware into one or more sub-types.
A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed and often masks its existence or the existence of other software. The term rootkit is a compound of "root" and the word "kit". The term "rootkit" has negative connotations through its association with malware.
Antivirus software, also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware.
Linux malware includes viruses, Trojans, worms and other types of malware that affect the Linux family of operating systems. Linux, Unix and other Unix-like computer operating systems are generally regarded as very well-protected against, but not immune to, computer viruses.
Trend Micro Inc. is an American-Japanese cyber security software company. The company has globally dispersed R&D in 16 locations across every continent excluding Antarctica. The company develops enterprise security software for servers, containers, & cloud computing environments, networks, and end points. Its cloud and virtualization security products provide automated security for customers of VMware, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Internet security is a branch of computer security. It encompasses the Internet, browser security, web site security, and network security as it applies to other applications or operating systems as a whole. Its objective is to establish rules and measures to use against attacks over the Internet. The Internet is an inherently insecure channel for information exchange, with high risk of intrusion or fraud, such as phishing, online viruses, trojans, ransomware and worms.
Scareware is a form of malware which uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or the perception of a threat in order to manipulate users into buying unwanted software. Scareware is part of a class of malicious software that includes rogue security software, ransomware and other scam software that tricks users into believing their computer is infected with a virus, then suggests that they download and pay for fake antivirus software to remove it. Usually the virus is fictional and the software is non-functional or malware itself. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of scareware packages in circulation rose from 2,850 to 9,287 in the second half of 2008. In the first half of 2009, the APWG identified a 585% increase in scareware programs.
ESET NOD32 Antivirus, commonly known as NOD32, is an antivirus software package made by the Slovak company ESET. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is sold in two editions, Home Edition and Business Edition. The Business Edition packages add ESET Remote Administrator allowing for server deployment and management, mirroring of threat signature database updates and the ability to install on Microsoft Windows Server operating systems.
Microsoft Defender Antivirus is an antivirus software component of Microsoft Windows. It was first released as a downloadable free anti-spyware program for Windows XP and was shipped with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It has evolved into a full antivirus program, replacing Microsoft Security Essentials in Windows 8 or later versions.
Ransomware is a type of cryptovirological malware that permanently blocks access to the victim's personal data unless a ransom is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion. It encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. In a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack, recovering the files without the decryption key is an intractable problem, and difficult-to-trace digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for the ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators difficult.
Cryptovirology refers to the study of cryptography use in malware, such as ransomware and asymmetric backdoors. Traditionally, cryptography and its applications are defensive in nature, and provide privacy, authentication, and security to users. Cryptovirology employs a twist on cryptography, showing that it can also be used offensively. It can be used to mount extortion based attacks that cause loss of access to information, loss of confidentiality, and information leakage, tasks which cryptography typically prevents.
Norton AntiBot, developed by Symantec, monitored applications for damaging behavior. The application was designed to prevent computers from being hijacked and controlled by hackers. According to Symantec, over 6 million computers have been hijacked, and the majority of users are unaware of their computers being hacked.
Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, with offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
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The Kraken botnet is a network hacking spyware program that attacks Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh systems through email and World Wide Web sites such as social networking sites. It was the world's largest botnet as of April 2008.
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; Bastia Umbra, Italy; and Cork, Ireland.
Kaspersky Lab is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, Natalya Kaspersky and Alexey De-Monderik. Kaspersky Lab develops and sells antivirus, internet security, password management, endpoint security, and other cybersecurity products and services.
The CryptoLocker ransomware attack was a cyberattack using the CryptoLocker ransomware that occurred from 5 September 2013 to late May 2014. The attack utilized a trojan that targeted computers running Microsoft Windows, and was believed to have first been posted to the Internet on 5 September 2013. It propagated via infected email attachments, and via an existing Gameover ZeuS botnet. When activated, the malware encrypted certain types of files stored on local and mounted network drives using RSA public-key cryptography, with the private key stored only on the malware's control servers. The malware then displayed a message which offered to decrypt the data if a payment was made by a stated deadline, and it threatened to delete the private key if the deadline passes. If the deadline was not met, the malware offered to decrypt data via an online service provided by the malware's operators, for a significantly higher price in bitcoin. There was no guarantee that payment would release the encrypted content.
Festi is a rootkit and a botnet also known by its alias of Spamnost, and is mostly involved in email spam and denial of service attacks. It works under operating systems of the Windows family. Autumn of 2009 was the first time Festi came into the view of the companies engaged in the development and sale of antivirus software. At this time it was estimated that the botnet itself consisted of roughly 25.000 infected machines, while having a spam volume capacity of roughly 2.5 billion spam emails a day. Festi showed the greatest activity in 2011-2012. More recent estimates - dated August 2012 - display that the botnet is sending spam from 250,000 unique IP addresses, a quarter of the total amount of one million detected IP's sending spam mails. The main functionality of botnet Festi is spam sending and implementation of cyberattacks like "distributed denial of service".
Trickbot is a trojan for Microsoft Windows and other operating systems. Its major function was originally the theft of banking details and other credentials, but its operators have extended its capabilities to create a complete modular malware ecosystem.
↑ Doktor, Vladislav. ""Eset je opäť firmou roka"". Hospodárske noviny. (in Slovak). "Firmou roka v dvanástom ročníku udeľovania cien za mimoriadne podnikateľské výsledky týždenníka Trend sa včera stala softvérová spoločnosť Eset, ktorá obhájila vlaňajší primát." (Yesterday, the software company Eset became the company of the year in the twelfth year of awarding awards for extraordinary business results of the weekly Trend, which defended last year's primacy.){{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
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