The Malwarebytes difference
Сybersecurity,
re-imagined for humans, built by professionals
Created by security nerds who know threats inside and out, chosen every day by people who know unmatched protection.
Malwarebytes is reimagining security to protect consumers’ devices and identity, regardless of their location, how they work and play, or their budget.
Built by experts,
loved by all
Meet the humans behind the tech
Shahak Shalev
Global Head of Scam and AI Research
Shahak is the global head of scam and AI research at Malwarebytes, where he leads efforts to understand and combat the evolving landscape of web-based threats. With a strong focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance cybersecurity, Shahak is committed to developing innovative solutions that safeguard consumer privacy and set new standards for data protection. A passionate advocate for online privacy and identity security, he continually pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the fight against cybercrime.
Prior to his role at Malwarebytes, Shahak was the Co-Founder and CTO of Cyrus Security, a company acquired by Malwarebytes in 2023. His expertise extends to artificial intelligence, where he explores its potential to revolutionize security practices.
Joe Hartmann
Vice President, Research
For Joe, it all started 30 years ago when he encountered his first virus. Shortly afterwards, he started running his own Wildcat bulletin board, hosting security software from around the globe.
Fast forward to 1996, Joe joined Trend Micro to build and run their cybersecurity organization. Next, he joined Microsoft to help build the global Windows Defender research team.
As head of global research at Malwarebytes, he leads multiple teams—including ThreatLabs Research and Response, the Advanced Research team focused on AI and automation, and the critical infrastructure team that keeps our malware detection systems running 24/7.
Mieke Verburgh
Senior Director of Threat Labs Europe
Mieke’s journey in cybersecurity began in 2001, when he volunteered on cybersecurity forums, helping people manually remove malware from their computers. This is where she met Marcin, whose family computer was badly infected. She helped him through the long and detailed cleanup process where Marcin had an idea to create a product that manually removed malware. He soon asked Mieke to join Malwarebytes as one of the first employees.
Today she leads the European threat research team. Her specialties include Windows Security, Malware Research, developing new heuristics, and working closely with many team members to organize a central malware signature database.
Stefan Dasic
Manager of Research and Response
Passionate about antivirus solutions, Stefan has dedicated his career to the frontlines of cybersecurity. At Malwarebytes, he develops AI-powered security models and automation systems that detect and neutralize threats before they impact customers. His hands-on experience with antivirus testing and quality assurance drives innovation in threat detection and response.
Jérôme Boursier
Principal Research Engineer
Jérôme is a leading cybersecurity researcher with extensive technical expertise in the behaviors, tactics, and strategies employed by threat actors. With an overall goal of reducing threats and improving privacy, Jérôme focuses on application security, mobile threats, and VPN. Before joining Malwarebytes,
he founded ToolsLib, where he built the world’s most popular adware cleaner, AdwCleaner, acquired by Malwarebytes in 2016.
A strong advocate for privacy, Jérôme runs several initiatives to support a free and open internet, including Signal proxies, a Tor relay, and multiple Snowflake proxies.
Pieter Arntz
Malware Intelligence Researcher
Pieter has been working for Malwarebytes since 2009 as a blogger and analyst. His focus is on vulnerabilities and the ways they are used by cybercriminals. He is especially focused on the ways in which stolen data leads to privacy concerns and for ransomware activity. Pieter is quadrilingual and was a Microsoft MVP in consumer security for 12 consecutive years.
Pedro Bustamante
Chief Research & Innovation Officer
Pedro got his start in cybersecurity in 1997 when he joined the team at Panda Security to help develop and manage the US team. After working there for 16 years, he recognized a shift in the industry and left to build his own company that focused on technology to combat new vulnerabilities, threats, and malware developments, ZeroVulnerabilityLabs, Inc. In 2013, Malwarebytes acquired his company, bringing on board his cutting-edge vulnerability, exploit, and security research and development.
Today at Malwarebytes, he leads the entire research organization, including threat intelligence, malware analysis, AI-powered detection systems, and the infrastructure that delivers real-time protection to millions of users worldwide.
Chris Fistonich
Manager, ThreatLabs North America
As manager of ThreatLabs North America at Malwarebytes, Chris leads a team focused on finding and thwarting today’s most pernicious threats. He has a particular interest and expertise in adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), both forms of deceptive software that can disguise harmful activities. Over his nearly two decades at Malwarebytes, Chris has held roles spanning malware research and technical support.
Chris holds a Ph.D. in Immunobiology from Yale University, where he studied blood cancers such as leukemia, and earned his B.S. in Microbiology from UCLA. In addition to his scientific pursuits, Chris is an accomplished opera singer who performs internationally.
Marcelo Rivero
Senior macOS Malware Research Lead
Marcelo began his cybersecurity career during the rise of spyware and adware, founding InfoSpyware.com in 2004 as a platform dedicated to malware removal, technical education, and threat awareness. His work earned him recognition from Microsoft as a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Consumer Security and led to speaking engagements at international security conferences across Spain and Latin America.
He joined Malwarebytes in 2016 and now leads macOS malware research, overseeing cross-platform threat analysis, threat hunting, and detection strategy as threats evolve beyond their Windows-dominant roots and redefine today’s Mac threat landscape.
Built by experts,
loved by all
Meet the humans behind the tech
Shahak Shalev
Global Head of Scam and AI Research
Shahak leads efforts to understand and combat the evolving landscape of web-based threats. With a strong focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance cybersecurity, Shahak is committed to developing innovative solutions that safeguard consumer privacy and set new standards for data protection.
Joe Hartmann
Vice President, Research
As head of global research at Malwarebytes, Joe leads multiple teams—including ThreatLabs Research and Response, the Advanced Research team focused on AI and automation, and the critical infrastructure team that keeps our malware detection systems running 24/7.
Mieke Verburgh
Senior Director of Threat Labs Europe
Mieke’s leads the European threat research team. Her specialties include Windows Security, Malware Research, developing new heuristics, and working closely with many team members to organize a central malware signature database.
Stefan Dasic
Manager of Research and Response
At Malwarebytes, he develops AI-powered security models and automation systems that detect and neutralize threats before they impact customers. His hands-on experience with antivirus testing and quality assurance drives innovation in threat detection and response.
Jérôme Boursier
Principal Research Engineer
Jérôme is a leading cybersecurity researcher with extensive technical expertise in the behaviors, tactics, and strategies employed by threat actors. A strong advocate for privacy, Jérôme runs several initiatives to support a free and open internet, including Signal proxies, a Tor relay, and multiple Snowflake proxies.
Pieter Arntz
Malware Intelligence Researcher
Pieter has been working for Malwarebytes since 2009 as a blogger and analyst. His focus is on vulnerabilities and the ways they are used by cybercriminals. He is especially focused on the ways in which stolen data leads to privacy concerns and for ransomware activity. Pieter is quadrilingual and was a Microsoft MVP in consumer security for 12 consecutive years.
Pedro Bustamante
Chief Research & Innovation Officer
Pedro leads the entire research organization, including threat intelligence, malware analysis, AI-powered detection systems, and the infrastructure that delivers real-time protection to millions of users worldwide.
Chris Fistonich
Manager, ThreatLabs North America
Chris leads a team focused on finding and thwarting today’s most pernicious threats. He has a particular interest and expertise in adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), both forms of deceptive software that can disguise harmful activities.
Marcelo Rivero
Senior macOS Malware Research Lead
Marcelo leads macOS malware research, overseeing cross-platform threat analysis, threat hunting, and detection strategy as threats evolve beyond their Windows-dominant roots and redefine today’s Mac threat landscape.
Expert takes
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Fake Bitrefill checkout pages are appearing in search results and tricking people into sending cryptocurrency directly to scammers….
Flirty OnlyFans promoters on X may be using AI to appear human
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The hidden work of modernizing Malwarebytes
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StreamRat Android malware spreads through Meta and TikTok ads
Social media ads for a free streaming service exposed roughly 570,000 people to StreamRat, a banking Trojan that can take…
Tech support scams look different now. Here’s what to watch for
Tech support scams have evolved beyond fake virus warnings. Here’s how scammers reach their targets now, and how to stay…
Inside our products
Security
Privacy
Identity
Get to know our products.
Behind the tech
To catch a threat takes knowledge, precision, and technical expertise—qualities that Malwarebytes has programmed into its multilayered, AI-assisted detection architecture.
Our static and dynamic analysis engines analyze the structure and behavior of files, providing a deeper understanding than traditional antivirus, while we supplement our intelligence with our AI-assisted signature system that identifies malicious patterns at the scale of modern cybercrime.
But it’s not enough to catch malware before it acts—Malwarebytes also seeks to stop its delivery before it happens. A first layer of defense through web protection blocks malicious URLs, IP addresses, and domains, while our anti-exploit technology hardens trusted applications against zero-day attacks. This modern and innovative approach to protection is guided by our legacy in remediation, which is powered by a signature-less engine that removes all traces of an attack.
Behind the tech
It’s rare for any VPN provider to own the server stacks that power their encryption services, but at Malwarebytes, it’s the norm.
Built entirely with RAM-only servers that cannot and do not physically store or retain any data, Malwarebytes Privacy VPN puts the proof to its privacy promise: We do not collect, store, share, or sell any user data. And while we own every piece of hardware in our server fleet, we don’t want to know anything happening within it. Seriously, we seal all USB, VGA, and serial ports up with epoxy so that everyone, including us, will struggle to wire in. If that wasn’t enough to set us apart, our Blind Operator technology disables all local and remote access—including SSH and console—making unauthorized modification or traffic interception virtually impossible.
Malwarebytes Browser Guard crushes unwanted and unsafe content for a safer, cleaner, and faster browsing experience. It is also the world’s first browser extension that can identify and stop tech support scams. The free browser extension works with Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari browsers (on desktop) and can be installed independently of Premium Security.
Behind the tech
Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection scours the dark web and other sources for personal information, provides live agent-supported identity recovery, and credit monitoring and reporting — all backed by up to $2 million in identity theft insurance.
Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover scans a vast network of people search sites and data broker databases for users’ sensitive data, automatically helps them remove their private details, and provides ongoing monitoring to ensure their data remains private.
Malwarebytes Digital Footprint scanner empowers individuals to stop hiding from threats by detailing the personal information exposed by data breaches and providing actionable guidance to reduce risk.