Bitdefender facts for kids
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Bitdefender Headquarters in Bucharest, Romania
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| Private | |
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | November 6, 2001 |
| Founder | Florin Talpeș |
| Headquarters | Bucharest, Romania |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Florin Talpeș (CEO) |
| Products | Cybersecurity software |
| Services | Computer security |
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Number of employees
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1,600+ (2023) |
Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, with offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
The company was founded in 2001 by the current CEO and main shareholder, Florin Talpeș. Bitdefender develops and delivers cybersecurity products and services, including endpoint protection, cloud and managed security, antivirus software and IoT security. Bitdefender products are distributed through partners in over 150 countries and the US market is estimated to generate more than 40% of its revenues. As of 2020, the company employed more than 1,600 people worldwide.
As of August 2021, Bitdefender was ranked 5th globally among free anti-malware application vendors for Microsoft Windows by market scores.
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.
Company milestones
1990: Creation of Softwin, one of the first IT start-ups in post-communist Romania.
The rapid growth of computer viruses leads to the development of Softwin AVX (AntiVirus eXpert)
2001: The Bitdefender subsidiary is created. AVX solution is rebranded under the Bitdefender name.
2004: First offices outside Romania in US, Germany and UK.
Further expansion in the Middle East (2011), and Denmark / Nordics Region (2015).
2007: Bitdefender becomes a separate business entity with external capital entry.
Axxess Capital Investment Fund becomes a key shareholder.
2011: Bitdefender launches enterprise range and virtualization security products.
2015: Bitdefender creates a new consumer product category with Bitdefender BOX and IoT security services.
2017: Bitdefender makes its first major acquisition by acquiring French partner Profil Technology Source.
British fund Vitruvian buys a 30% stake in the Bitdefender, valuing Bitdefender at more than $600 million.
2018: Bitdefender creates a new subsidiary in Australia through the acquisition of assets from business partner SMS eTech.
Bitdefender acquires behavioral and network security analytics company RedSocks.
2019: Bitdefender opens its own Security Operations Center in San Antonio, Texas.
2021: Bitdefender unveils its extended detection and response (XDR) platform, offering business customers further visibility and incident context during investigations to accelerate threat validation, response actions and remediation.
2022: Bitdefender signed a multi-year partnership deal with Scuderia Ferrari on September 28.
Independent tests
Bitdefender has won a number of awards from AV-Comparatives, an anti-virus assessment firm.
See also
In Spanish: BitDefender para niños
- Comparison of antivirus software
- Comparison of firewalls
- Comparison of computer viruses
- Multiscanning
