Eset
Encyclopedia
ESET is an IT security company head-quartered in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
that was founded in 1992 by the merger of two private companies. The company was awarded as the most successful Slovak company in 2008, 2009 and 2010. ESET is privately held and has branch offices in San Diego, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
; Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
; Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
as well as distributors in over 180 countries.
In December 2010, the company announced the appointment of Richard Marko as Global CEO, Milan Masaryk as CFO, Pavol Luka as CTO, Juraj Malcho as Chief Research Officer, Ignacio Sbampato as director of global sales and marketing, and Andrew Lee as the CEO of its North American branch. ESET's founders remain on as the company's board.
Products
ESET's first product was NOD, an antivirus softwareAntivirus software
Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware...
for computers running MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
. In 1998, ESET introduced NOD32 1.0 for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, with version 2.0 following in 2003. The last supported build of the 2.x codebase is 2.70.39, released in November 2006 to add support for Microsoft Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. In January 2010, ESET announced they would cease selling or providing downloads of NOD32 2.x in February 2010 and no longer provide signature updates or support after February 2012.
In November 2007, ESET released v3.0 of ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security v3.0, the latter being a new product combining ESET NOD32 Antivirus with antispam and firewall
Firewall (computing)
A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
functions. In March 2009, ESET released v4.0 of ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security. In March 2010, ESET released v4.2 of ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security.
In September 2010, ESET released ESET NOD32 Antivirus for Mac OS X Business Edition and in November 2010, a home version called ESET Cybersecurity for Mac OS X.
ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security 4.2 both support Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Server 2003 R2, Vista, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7; additionally, ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.2 supports Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6a. Support for 64-bit (x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
, not IA-64) versions of these operating systems is provided, although the program runs both 32-bit and 64-bit processes. Users of older versions of Microsoft Windows, such as Windows 95, 98, Me and NT 4.0, will need to install the older 2.70.39 release. In addition to Microsoft Windows the company also supports the following operating systems: BSD
Berkeley Software Distribution
Berkeley Software Distribution is a Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Novell NetWare
Novell NetWare
NetWare is a network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, with network protocols based on the archetypal Xerox Network Systems stack....
and Sun Solaris.
In May 2011, ESET began publicly beta testing ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security version 5 which has now been released as a free upgrade to all current ESET NOD32 & Smart Business 4.x license holders as well a free trial for first time clients. Improvements in ESET NOD32 and Smart Security 5 includes an Enhanced Media Control that automaticlly scans all USB, external and CD/DVD drives for any threats and blocks removable media based on type and manufacturer of the media. Users can customize the behavior of the software by specifying rules for current running processes, programs, registry and tweek the security posture of the software. Gamer Mode being introduced into the software conserves system resources and activities for gaming and other full screen programs by haulting all pop-up windows that require user intervention. The new ESET Live Grid is a new cloud powered real-time protection scanner that protects against online based internet threats and online social-media exploits. Parents now have control over the computer with ESET Parental Control feature that blocks potentially offensive and dangerous web content by specifying rules and selecting various pre-defined categories.
ESET also has ESET Mobile Security for Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
users, Symbian OS and Android. In addition to malware protection it provides antispam filtering for SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
messages, a firewall
Firewall (computing)
A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
and anti-theft features, like SIM locking and remote wipe.
Technology
ESET's use of assembly languageAssembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
in its products contributes to their low system requirements and disk space utilization.
ESET calls its scanning engine ThreatSense, and makes extensive use of generic signatures and heuristics. This should not be confused with ThreatSense.Net, which is ESET's system for submitting suspicious files and malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
to their virus researchers.
ESET's products are regularly tested by organizations such as AV-Comparatives, AV-Test and Virus Bulletin
Virus Bulletin
Virus Bulletin is a magazine about the prevention, detection and removal of malware and spam. It regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats, articles exploring new developments in the fight against viruses, interviews with anti-virus experts, and evaluations of current anti-malware...
. ESET is the first company to receive sixty-five (65) VB100 awards from Virus Bulletin and has not missed a single threat in Virus Bulletin's tests in the past six years. ESET's products are regularly certified by ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs.
External links
- ESET - ESET official website
- ESET Latino America - Latin American distribution center (Spanish language)
- ESET (public beta test release portal)
- ESET world-wide office list - see here for all other distributors and resellers
- ESET (official support forum, hosted by Wilders Security)