| Type | Public limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software Security software Antivirus software |
| Founded | 1991 (as part of another company), 2008 (as a standalone company) |
| Founder(s) | Jiří Mrnuštík |
| Headquarters | Brno, Czech Republic, European Union |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Vladislav Němec, CEO Petr Vaněk, research and development director Lucie Grohová, marketing director Marcela Parolková, sales director Pavel Mrnuštík, technical director |
| Products | TrustPort Antivirus TrustPort Internet Security TrustPort Total Protection TrustPort eSign Pro TrustPort USB Antivirus TrustPort Net Gateway TrustPort WebFilter (all current products) |
| Revenue | EUR 20 million (Cleverlance Group 2009) |
| Owner(s) | Cleverlance Group |
| Employees | 330 (Cleverlance Group 2010) |
| Website | www.trustport.com |
TrustPort a.s. is a security software company, headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. Its products focus on three main areas of computer and data protection. The first area is the protection against viruses, spyware, and malware in general. TrustPort implements its own antivirus technology, using multiple scanning engines, licensed from several antivirus producers. The second area is filtering of unwanted data, like electronic mail spam or objectionable website content. TrustPort develops filtering technologies, based on both simple rules and heuristic analysis. The third area is the confidentiality and authenticity of electronic data. Both symmetric and asymmetric cryptography are being used in TrustPort technology for data encryption and electronic signing. TrustPort solutions range from the protection of individual computers to the protection of whole networks.
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TrustPort was preceded by the AEC (originally an abbreviation of Association for Electronics and Computers), founded in 1991. AEC was selling software and providing services in the field of data security. Already in 1993, the company started to develop its own security software, in addition to products from other manufacturers. Original AEC software products from the 1990s were generally branded as IronWare. They included for example IronWall for file encryption, IronBridge for network communications protection, IronMail for electronic mail encryption, and IronFolder for automated encryption and decryption in specified folders. Even these early products indicated some future directions of the software sold under the TrustPort brand.
The software gradually became known as IronWare Security Suite. In September 2000, based on previous contract between AEC and Norman ASA, the IronWare Security Suite product rights and development team passed into the onwnership of Norman[1], and the software was renamed to Norman Security Suite. AEC continued to sell the software as a business partner of Norman. In March 2002, AEC once again started to promote software of its own production, when it introduced DataShredder, TrustMail, and TrustPort Encryption at the Cebit computer expo. DataShredder was designed for irreversible deletion of sensitive data, TrustMail for encryption and signing of data, TrustPort Encryption for file encryption, applicable both with personal computers, and with mobile devices[2].
In January 2003, AEC launched its TrustPort Certification Authority[3], the first certification authority in the Czech Republic, which supported digital timestamping. In April 2003, a second version of TrustMail was released, implementing the timestamping technology[4]. In 2003, a comprehensive security solution called TrustPort Phoenix Rebel started to take shape, piece by piece. The idea was to build unified software solution, integrating different elements, essential for computer security, like antivirus, antispam, firewall, or encryption; at the same time, both personal computers and servers were to be protected.
By 2005, all building blocks of TrustPort Phoenix Rebel were completed. The whole solution was originally divided into three main products, TrustPort Phoenix Rebel Workstation[5][6], TrustPort Phoenix Rebel Servers, consisting of gateway antivirus, gateway antispam, and network firewall, and finally TrustPort Phoenix Rebel Management. The first product gradually became known as TrustPort Workstation, while the second product as TrustPort Internet Gateway. In May 2007, AEC introduced TrustPort WebFilter, a gateway product for blocking of unwanted web content[7].
In November 2007, an acquisition agreement between AEC and Cleverlance was signed. Cleverlance as the new owner of AEC made a strategic decision to form a standalone company out of the AEC development department. In March 2008, the new company was officially entered into the trade register of Czech Republic, under the name of TrustPort, with Jiří Mrnuštík as the chief executive officer[8]. AEC continued to sell TrustPort software as a TrustPort reseller. Following TrustPort detachment, both AEC and TrustPort moved to new office premises in Spielberk Office Centre in June 2008.
In April 2008, two major changes were made in TrustPort product portfolio. TrustPort Workstation was renamed to TrustPort PC Security, in order to align the product name with the products of competing companies[9]. At the same time, TrustPort Antivirus was established as a standalone product for those customers, who do not seek a comprehensive security suite, but rather an essential antimalware protection[10].
In November 2008, the innovated basic product line, consisting of TrustPort Antivirus 2009 and TrustPort PC Security 2009, was introduced to the market. It featured upgraded graphical user interface, parental lock technology and several other innovations[11][12]. January 2009 marked the launch of TrustPort Antivirus USB Edition, soon to be renamed to TrustPort USB Antivirus, a piece of antivirus software designed specifically for the protection of flash drives[13][14].
There was a change in the company management in February 2009. Vladislav Němec was appointed the new chief executive officer of TrustPort[15]. Throughout the year, business partnerships were established or reinforced with several important distributors around the globe, for example in Britain, Canada, Italy, India, Mexico, Spain and France. In November 2009, TrustPort Antivirus 2010 and TrustPort PC Security 2010 were released for sale[16]. Among the new features, automated software upgrades, email client plugins, and language selection at any time were some of the most notable. In April 2010, TrustPort eSign Pro extended the current product portfolio[17].
In order to meet the different needs of different customer segments, the company reshaped its portfolio in September 2010[18]. For home users and small offices, three instead of two alternative products were introduced, starting with TrustPort Antivirus 2011, followed by TrustPort Internet Security 2011 and TrustPort Total Protection 2011. For medium and large businesses, a comprehensive solution TrustPort Security Elements was put on the market, with four different protection levels available. TrustPort Security Elements was designed as a software bundle that would protect various elements of a heterogenous network.
TrustPort products have been regularly tested and awarded by independent testing labs. In October 2006, TrustPort Antivirus was tested by Virus Bulletin, and obtained VB100 award for the first time. In the same month, testing by AV-Comparatives was performed, resulting in the first AV-Comparatives Advanced+ award for TrustPort Antivirus[19]. In February 2009, TrustPort PC Security was tested by PC Security Labs, and was awarded PC Security Labs Excellent for the first time. In January 2010, West Coast Labs tested TrustPort Antivirus. As a result, the product obtained Checkmark award in two categories[20].