Security software maker pioneer in protecting against threats.

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Anton Zajac, president and chief executive officer of ESET, takes the saying, "the early bird catches the worm," quite seriously, catching worms, viruses, spyware, trojans, phishing and other Internet menaces before they know what hit 'em.ESET stands for Essential Security Against Evolving Threats, and the security software firm behind the name opened its U.S. headquarters in San Diego in 1999.

In 2007, the company moved into a 25,000-square-foot office in Little Italy.

The number of local employees also grew, from 43 in 2006 to almost 100 in 2008.

ESET's NOD32 Antivirus--its flagship product--Smart Security, and Mobile Antivirus, stay ahead of the curve thanks to "heuristics," a system of detecting threats on the horizon.

"ESET has been a pioneer of a proactive detection which is not based on a previous knowledge of the files, but rather, it's based on how it behaves, either via e-mail or Web site browsing or any other vectors of attack," said Zajac.

The industry's biggest shift, according to Zajac, is that malware used to be created by programmers seeking fame; now it is created by organized crime groups.

He says there are more and more targeted attacks on specific companies in which hackers and malware writers use profiling and social engineering tactics to gain access to employee computers.

While malware continues to change and grow--Zajac says his team comes across 100,000 unique examples of malicious code daily--ESET and his competitors are gaining ground for their customers.

Doubled Revenues

ESET more than doubled its revenue to $33.8 million in 2006, and jumped to $62.6 million in 2007 from $14.5 million in 2005. And even in a sluggish economy, antivirus software sales haven't slowed.

"It's a multi-billion-dollar business," says Zajac. "Based on (industry research) reports it's growing 12 percent on an annual basis and will be growing steadily until 2012."

Zajac believes ESET Smart Security, introduced in October 2007, was a big contributor to last year's revenue growth, representing 25 percent to 30 percent of 2008's estimated revenue of $120 million.

Smart Security combines antivirus protection with anti-spam and firewall features.

Also new to the lineup, ESET Mobile Antivirus, is anti-malware specifically created for mobile devices such as smart phones.

The commercial version was released last fall.

"I expect this to be an extremely fast-growing segment of our product line, since it reflects the transient in the industry in the way our clients use technology," said Zajac.

ESET LLC is a spinoff of ESET, an accounting software firm launched in Slovakia 17 years ago. The company has labs in Slovakia, England, Argentina and the Czech Republic and recently opened a lab in Poland.

Around 40 percent of revenue comes from the United States.

Largest Client Renewal

ESET was just renewed by its largest client, the Ontario Ministry of Education. In 2007, the agency selected NOD32 to protect 350,000 machines, says Zajac, which has been increased to 400,000 networked computers.

The firm's clients include big companies such as Dell Computer Corp. and Microsoft Corp., but also governments, small to medium-sized businesses, educational institutions, Internet service providers and home users.

In 2008, ESET was listed as No. 11 on the Business Journal's list of the county's 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.

"I believe the biggest success we have accomplished is that we stayed focused, which allowed us to sustain the growth of the company," said Zajac. "We look at long-term investments, not short-term gain."

This story originally appeared in the September 22, 2008 edition of the Business Journal.