Lavasoft

Lavasoft
Private limited company
Founded Germany (1999)
Headquarters Montreal, Canada
Products Ad-Aware
Lavasoft Digital Lock
Lavasoft File Shredder
Ad-Aware Web Companion
Lavasoft Privacy Toolbox
Website www.lavasoft.com

Lavasoft is a software development company that produces spyware and malware detection software,[1] including Ad‐Aware. They are also used to hide their software into third-party installers, thus reaching unwilling users in the same way used by the malware they claim to fight.

The company offers a free, downloadable version of Ad‐Aware titled Ad‐Aware Free Antivirus+ and three commercial versions called Ad‐Aware Personal Security, Ad-Aware Pro Security and Ad-Aware Total Security.[2] Other Lavasoft products include Ad-Aware Web Companion, Lavasoft Digital Lock, Lavasoft File Shredder, Lavasoft Privacy Toolbox and Lavasoft Registry Tuner.

Lavasoft’s headquarters are in Montreal, Canada, having previously been located in Gothenburg, Sweden since 2002. Nicolas Stark and Ann-Christine Åkerlund established the company in Germany in 1999 with its flagship Ad-Aware product. In 2011, Lavasoft was acquired by the Solaria Fund.[3]

Products

Controversies

The company was acquired in January 2011 by the Solaria Fund, a private equity fund.[3] It was soon discovered that the fund was actually a front for the entrepreneurs (Daniel Assouline and Michael Dadoun) behind UpClick and Interactive Brands.[4] SC Magazine discovered that Lavasoft had been acquired by the same entrepreneurs who have been accused of selling software that is available for free (such as the free version of AVG antivirus) to unwitting users under the guise of premium support.[5] Assouline and Dadoun used to sell the free version of Lavasoft's security program prior to acquiring the company itself. This has been well-documented by security consultants such as Dancho Danchev.[6]

Lavasoft is now used to hide hard-to-uninstall programs into third-party software to trick the users in installing them, like in the K-lite codec pack,[7] and the Lavasoft Web Companion changes your browser home page without asking first. Although the company shields itself behind the complete legality of bundled software and claims that their software is only used to fight malware, several users are starting to brand their products as malware [8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "About Lavasoft". Lavasoft. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  2. ↑ "Ad-Aware - Antivirus software with virus and spyware removal". Lavasoft. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  3. 1 2 "Solaria Fund acquires software business from Lavasoft - Mannheimer Swartling". Mannheimerswartling.se. 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  4. ↑ "Daniel Assouline - SC Magazine". Scmagazineus.com. 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  5. ↑ Danny Bradbury (2006-03-03). "Money for nothing | Media". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  6. ↑ Danchev, Dancho (2008-03-20). "Dancho Danchev's Blog - Mind Streams of Information Security Knowledge: Cybersquatting Security Vendors for Fraudulent Purposes". Ddanchev.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  7. ↑ http://codecs.forumotion.net/t2118-k-lite-now-bundled-with-web-companion-that-changes-your-home-page-and-search-provider
  8. ↑ http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/498860/lavasoft-malware/
  9. ↑ http://forums.anvisoft.com/viewtopic-53-4717-0.html

External links


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