Positive Group acquires stake in Belarusian antivirus developer Vba32, plans to launch own antivirus in Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - PJSC Positive Group, the parent company of Positive Technologies which develops cybersecurity solutions, has acquired a stake in the Belarusian company and developer of the Vba32 antivirus program Virusblokada additional liability company (ALC), and plans to launch its own antivirus solution on the Russian market in 2025 based on this technology, the company said.
The deal's terms have not been disclosed. Positive Group told Interfax that the deal only includes the antivirus solution, as Virusblokada is also the developer of the KANOE solution, designed for protection against unauthorized access.
Positive Group has acquired exclusive rights to Virusblokada's technologies, products, codebase and virus signature database as part of the deal, the company said. After further development, Vba32 is expected to be integrated within the current year into four Positive Group products - MaxPatrol EDR (a solution for detecting and responding to cyber threats on endpoints), PT ISIM (a security monitoring system for industrial infrastructures), PT Sandbox (a sandbox environment) and PT NGFW (a next-generation firewall).
Positive Group will thus focus on promoting Vba32 as part of its products in Russia. Virusblokada in turn will continue selling the antivirus program in Belarus.
In the fall of 2023, Positive Group estimated the Russian EDR solutions market to be worth approximately $10 million. At that time, the company believed that only around 14% of Russian corporate customers were using an EDR solution. Another 26% planned to implement an EDR solution, while 30% recognized the need but lacked the financial resources.
"Integrating antivirus technology into existing products will allow us to offer comprehensive and deep protection for all possible endpoints and infrastructures, regardless of company size or industry," the head of the workstation and server protection development department at Positive Technologies, Sergei Lebedev, was quoted as saying. "Also, by enhancing the technology with our knowledge of cyber threats and leveraging our multi-product expertise gained over 20 years, we plan to debut this year in the mature and highly competitive antivirus software market with our own solution."
Positive Group also plans to consolidate certain departments of its Expert Security Center into an antivirus lab. This lab will focus on detecting and analyzing new malware samples and hacker tools in order to regularly update the antivirus database. Its tasks will also include developing detection technologies and creating prototype tools to enhance product capabilities in identifying all types of modern embedded software.
"We plan to expand our development team and the necessary infrastructure, as well as form an antivirus laboratory within the Expert Security Center using existing mechanisms of Positive Technologies and Virusblokada's expertise," the company said.
An early version of Positive Group's proprietary antivirus program is expected to be presented in autumn this year.
"The antivirus will primarily be marketed as a module within the existing EDR product or as part of other products, and by the end of the year, also as a standalone solution for customers who already use Positive Technologies' products, as well as those who need an alternative source of expertise in malware detection," Positive Group said.
The company views the antivirus software market, specifically the endpoint protection market, as highly mature and stable, but also growing in line with the broader cybersecurity market in Russia (by 20%-30% annually). Import substitution processes, the constantly evolving cybersecurity landscape, emerging threats and the expansion of company infrastructures create significant potential in the antivirus software market, according to Positive Group experts.
According to the analytical agency TAdviser, sales of consumer antivirus software in Russia amounted to 195,000 licenses in H1 2023, down 61% from the previous year. Revenue in this market also dropped 61% to 268 million rubles. Kaspersky Lab dominated 94% of this market segment.
According to Platform OFD's Check Index analytical center, antivirus software purchases increased 41% in Russia in 2024.
Currently, shares of PJSC Positive Group are traded on the Moscow Exchange, with the company obtaining its listing in December 2021. At the time of listing and the start of trading, the free float accounted for 10.89% of the total common shares (66 million units). These shares were distributed to current and former employees of the group, as well as its partners, through a gift program from existing shareholders.
The group's main operating company is JSC Positive Technologies, which is 100% owned by PJSC Positive Group.
Positive Group's revenue to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was recorded at 22.2 billion rubles in 2023, up 61% compared to 2022. Shipments grew 76% to 25.5 billion rubles. According to preliminary data, shipments for 2024 are expected to reach around 26 billion rubles. NIC (net income before capitalization of expenses) rose 76% to 8.7 billion rubles.
Virusblokada LLC was founded in 1997, with the development and promotion of Vba32 dating back to 1994. The company was re-registered as an additional liability company in 2000.
