Like most teenagers in the early 2000s, Marcin Kleczynski spent a lot of time on the family computer.
The Kleczynski household was home to a white Dell CRT Monitor, the kind the Malwarebytes co-founder and CEO told IT Brew practically everyone had at the time. On it, he would play videogames that he obtained through “nefarious” means—until the clunky PC fell victim to spyware, malicious software that caused a host of problems for the devices they occupied, such as slower performance and pesky pop-ups.
It’s kind of a funny story. “Long story short, [I] downloaded what I thought was a video game to play and the computer starts acting funny,” he said.
Kleczynski was in a pickle.
“Here I am, in the basement of my parents’ house. We’ve got a computer for the first time, and I broke it,” Kleczynski said.
He quickly took to the internet to find a way to salvage his computer. Fortunately, a volunteer on a spyware-focused online messaging forum came to Kleczynski’s aid, supplying him with instructions to nurse his PC back to health.
“I decide I want to stick around this community because I saw her as a superhero online helping people like me clean up their computer for free,” Kleczynski said.
Kleczynski—who always had an affinity for computers, recalling one time during high school when he built a PC from scratch in front of his peers (“it wasn’t that hard,” he said)—quickly submerged himself in the spyware community, helping out others in need. During his time there, he realized that volunteer spyware warriors like himself were relying mostly on crowd-built resources.
“To me, that was a massive disconnect,” Kleczynski said, questioning why the online volunteers weren’t getting paid for their efforts and why they only had “hacked-together” tools to work with.
This prompted Kleczynski, along with a few colleagues he met within the makeshift spyware community, to launch Malwarebytes in 2008. He said part of what made the cybersecurity company so successful was that it acted as a “wing man” to the larger security companies.
“We would tackle the most aggressive threats, the ones that were most prolific, the ones that were affecting people in the harshest ways, and we would also work collaboratively with these message boards of people trying to help others, and [became] a tool for that superhero,” Kleczynski said.
Top insights for IT pros
From cybersecurity and big data to cloud computing, IT Brew covers the latest trends shaping business tech in our 4x weekly newsletter, virtual events with industry experts, and digital guides.
He added that the company’s choice to provide its core services for free also distinguished it from other players in the industry.
“We were…giving the cure away for free and offering a vaccine for a nominal lifetime cost at the time,” Kleczynski said. “So, I think that’s really what set us apart.”
Alex Eckelberry was the CEO of security software company Sunbelt Software in the early 2000s, another company entrenched in the spyware space and a direct competitor of Malwarebyes at one point. Eckelberry spoke highly of the cybersecurity software company when reflecting on its role in the spyware epidemic.
“They were the best at removing stuff. They could remove anything, and the reason Malwarebytes was so good was because their technology was good, but they also came out of that community,” said Eckelberry, who later served as a general manager and board member of Malwarebytes.
Still got it! While today, spyware may feel like a blast from the past, Malwarebytes is still up and kicking. The company claims it serves millions of customers around the globe and currently blocks more than 90 million web threats and malicious sites in a typical month.
Kleczynski attributes the company’s success to its move to separate its enterprise and consumer businesses. In 2023, Malwarebytes launched ThreatDown, a distinct rebranding of its Malwarebytes for Business solutions geared toward businesses, partners, and managed service providers.
“Businesses are worried about very different things than consumers and so to have the same product offering, go-to-market strategy, [and] website brand didn’t make much sense,” Kleczynski said. He added that while organizations tend to focus on things like network security, consumers are more interested in identity protection.
Grow up! Kleczynski said Malwarebytes sees an even amount of demand from the two customer segments. Right now, his focus is on the long-term strategy of the business as it comes of age.
“What do we want to be when we grow up after 18 years?” Kleczynski said. “I guess we’re a teenager as a company. It’s crazy.”