Webroot

History

Webroot was founded in 1997 when entrepreneur Steven Thomas launched Webroot’s first commercial product, a trace removal agent called Webroot Window Washer. Investors include venture capital firms such as Technology Crossover Ventures, Accel Partners and Mayfield.

In 2002, Webroot launched a spyware blocking and removal product called Webroot Spy Sweeper. The company introduced antivirus protection with the launch of Webroot Antivirus with Spy Sweeper|Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus in 2006. In October 2007, Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware and Desktop Firewall was released with added firewall protection feature.

Webroot entered the enterprise market in 2004 with the launch of Webroot Spy Sweeper Enterprise, which combined Spy Sweeper with technology that enables IT administrators to deploy antispyware protection across an entire network.

In October 2008, Webroot launched its first consumer security suite, Webroot Internet Security Essentials, in the United States. The international release of the security suite followed in early 2009.

In August 2009, Webroot appointed a new president and CEO, former CEO of Wily Technology, Dick Williams.

In May 2010, Webroot announced plans to open up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Two months later in July 2010 Webroot released Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 which includes antivirus and antispyware protection, firewall capabilities, online back-up, password management licensed from LastPass, protection against identity theft and credit card monitoring for US customers.

In September 2010, Webroot opened a regional office in Leidschendam, The Netherlands which is primarily aimed at delivering Webroot's enterprise security-as-a-service (SaaS) products to businesses via channel partners.

Webroot Mobile Security for Android was launched on April 5, 2011 for smartphones and tablets and comes in a free basic version and a paid premium version. The app is designed to protect against viruses from apps, threats delivered via web browsing and against the threats created when mobile devices are lost. With the launch of the SecureAnywhere products on October 4, 2011 the mobile security offerings were also expanded to include the iOS mobile operating system.

In October 2011, Webroot launched the newest generation of their products, using Prevx cloud technology. This included three basic products for Windows (SecureAnywhere AntiVirus, Essentials and Complete 2012) and security for Android and iOS mobile devices. In February 2012 this product line was expanded to include offerings for businesses.

In July, 2014, Webroot announced its BrightCloud Security Services, a new portfolio of services for enterprise-class businesses, including integration for Next-Generation Firewalls and SIEMs.

Acquisitions and partnerships

In November 2007, Webroot acquired UK-based Email Systems (EMS) and announced itself as a provider in the security software-as-a-service (SaaS) market.

In December 2009, Webroot announced a partnership with virtual private network software provider, AnchorFree. The partnership yields an advertising-free version of AnchorFree's VPN software, which will now include protection via Webroot's antivirus and antispyware software.

In March 2010, Webroot announced the acquisition of Swedish corporate Internet security company, Email Systems Scandinavia (ESS).

In July 2010, Webroot acquired San Diego, California-based web content classification and security services provider, BrightCloud. The merging of the two will integrate the web reputation and content classification technology of BrightCloud with Webroot’s existing products.

In November 2010, Webroot acquired UK cloud-based anti-malware company, Prevx.

A partnership deal occurred in July 2011 with global distribution firm Tech Data. The partnership made Webroot products available to Tech Data’s extended network of 125,000 channel partners in 100 countries around the world.

In July 2013, Webroot and RSA Security formed a partnership to enhance each firm's real-time phishing detection. According to Avi Rosen, the director of anti-fraud at RSA, "Combining Webroot's capabilities with RSA's automated phishing detection helps us more rapidly qualify suspected phishing sites and quickly determine which URL requires further investigation.”

In September 2016, Webroot announced acquiring the assets of CyberFlow Analytics, an innovator in applying data science to network anomaly detection. This acquisition enhances Webroot’s ability to address the explosion of internet-connected devices and an increasingly complex threat landscape.

Reviews

AV-Comparatives gave nine vendors, including Webroot, its highest award in its July 2012 Anti-Phishing Test, in which Webroot took 9th place among 18 products tested for efficacy in blocking phishing websites. In AV-Comparative's Performance Test for October 2012, Webroot had the best PCMark score, having the lightest impact out of 20 products tested on a Windows 7 64-bit machine.

Webroot had the worst results out of 20 products tested by AV-Comparatives in the September 2012 File Detection Test of Malicious Software, both in terms of malware detection rates and false alarms. Webroot detected less than 80 percent of viral samples, much worse than the 94.4 percent rate of the second lowest detecting product. Among clean files, Webroot inappropriately flagged 210 of them, raising as many false-positives as the other 19 products tested combined. According to AV-comparatives, the "results and misses have been confirmed with several tests and also by the vendor."

PC Magazine has awarded Webroot SecureAnywhere 19 times with Editor's Choice and Security Product of the Year, its highest award given to security and software programs. In PC Magazines's test for 2013, Webroot was recognized by PC Magazine staff as having the best score in malware blocking tests, malware removal tests, speed of scans, and installation speed. In the 2014 test, PCMag found "Webroot's detection rate of 89 percent and overall malware cleanup score of 6.6 points are both tops among products tested using this same malware collection."

Gartner listed Webroot in its Visionary Quadrant in its 2014 assessment of Endpoint Protection Platforms. The Visionary Quadrant is reserved for firms that "understand where the market is going or have a vision for changing market rules."

The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, identified Webroot as a "Trail Blazer" in its Corporate Web Security—Market Quadrant 2014. Radicati defines Trail Blazers as "companies that offer cutting-edge technology and hold the power to dethrone current market leaders by growing their customer base and market awareness." Sara Radicati, the CEO of the Radicati Group, said that Webroot "is one of a few purely cloud-based web security providers and offers an easily deployable corporate web security solution, which adds to their competitive advantage."

In 2014, PassMark Software, a leading authority in software and hardware performance benchmarking, benchmarked Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection and Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus using 13 performance metrics. In both tests, Webroot products were found to outperform competitors in a variety of metrics, including scan times, CPU usage, and others, earning the highest overall score in both tests.