| Type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | Durango, Spain(1990) |
| Headquarters | Bilbao, Spain |
| Key people | José Sancho (CEO) / Jaime Bergel (Chairman) |
| Products | Antivirus, firewall Spam and spyware detection Security and management tools |
| Website | PandaSecurity.com |
Panda Security SL, formerly Panda Software, is a computer security company founded in 1990 by Panda's former CEO, Mikel Urizarbarrena, in the city of Bilbao, Spain. Initially centered on the production of antivirus software, the company has expanded its line of applications to include firewall applications, spam and spyware detection applications, cybercrime prevention technology, and other system management and security tools for businesses and home users.
Panda's products include security tools for home users and enterprises, including protection against cybercrime and kinds of malware that can damage IT systems, such as spam, hackers, spyware, dialers and undesirable web content, as well as detection of WiFi intrusions. Its trademark technology, branded TruPrevent, is a set of proactive capabilities aimed at blocking unknown viruses and intruders. In 2007 Panda introduced a new collective intelligence security model, which utilizes grid computing for malware collection and detection.
Panda Security spots market opportunity with cloud and on November 2009, unveiled its first Cloud-Based Security Services for Home Users and SMBs[1]
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In 2005, Panda Security was the 4th largest antivirus vendor worldwide, with 3.2% of the marketplace.[2] The company, whose shares were previously 100% held by Urizarbarrena, announced on 24 April 2007 the sale of 75% of its shares to Southern European investment group Investindustrial and private equity firm Gala Capital.[3] On 30 July 2007 the company changed its name from Panda Software to Panda Security and Urizarbarrena was replaced by Jorge Dinares. Almost one year later, on 3 June 2008, amidst flagging sales, the board of directors voted to remove Dinares and replace him with Juan Santana, the CFO.[4][5] Santana resigned in September 2011 and was replaced by José Sancho as acting CEO.[6]
Panda Security is rated by Gartner analysts as a technology innovator.[7] Technological milestones include its pioneering launch of security systems, such as the SaaS concept (Security as a Service) or antivirus solutions that provide protection from the cloud (cloud computing) and are based on what Panda calls Collective Intelligence, a security model Panda introduced on the market in 2007[8][8]
According to its CEO, the main benefit this security model provides is that it allows automatic scanning of threats instead of the manual scans carried out by other companies,[9]], making it quicker and more efficient in malware detection.
Panda Security has subsidiaries in the US, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, UK, Sweden, Finland, Spain and Japan. Additionally, it has franchises in another 44 countries.
The US subidiary has had five management turnovers since 2007[10] before moving its headquarters to Orlando, Florida in 2009,[11]
Despite a renewed channel effort, as of January 2010, Panda is currently embroiled in a USD$50 million lawsuit with one of its channel partners.[12] On 3 August 2010, a new office location in Menlo Park, California was publicly announced by Panda's CEO via his Twitter account.[13]
Panda Security competes in the antivirus industry against Symantec Corp, Kaspersky, McAfee Inc and Trend Micro Inc, among others.
In late 2009 Panda Security created a partnership with Web of Trust to help fight against the war of viruses. [4]
TruPrevent, which was introduced in 2003, is a set of technologies developed by Panda Security for proactive protection in home and corporate computers, as opposed to traditional antivirus products, which provide reactive protection.
TruPrevent technologies offers generic protection against many of the techniques most commonly used by new malware, and policies and rules are developed based on the new vulnerabilities that appear daily.
Due to the vast amount of new malware that appears every day (in 2007 PandaLabs detected an average of 3,000 new samples a day,[14] which had risen to 35,000 in 2009), Panda Security developed a protection system to automatically detect, scan and classify malware in real time. This security model presented in 2007 was called “Collective Intelligence” and is the basis of the new solutions that offer security from the cloud.
This technology is implemented in its 2009 and 2010 antivirus products for home users and in the new Panda Cloud Antivirus, which the company has classified as the first antivirus in history that provides protection from the cloud [15]
These antivirus products only include the information about malware samples that cause most infections at any given moment, while the rest of the information is stored in Panda’s knowledge base. The antivirus connects to this knowledge base whenever necessary. This system is designed to offer real-time protection against thousands of new malware samples, use the community knowledge base to offer further protection and not to consume computer resources.[16]
In the February 2010 tests conducted by AV Comparatives, Panda's detection rate ranked 3rd of the 20 vendors tested, its false positive rate ranked 16th.[17]
Panda has not been tested by Virus Bulletin since 2002.[18]
Panda has been tested by Checkvir for years. Over the past five years[19] they have received a "Standard" rating at every test. They have achieved the "Advanced" rating twice.
In March 2010, Panda Security became the first vendor to receive an ICSA certification for a 100% cloud based offering.[20][21]