Trend Micro's CEO says 'AV industry sucks'

Trend Micro’s CEO threw down the gauntlet to her competitors last week, proclaiming that hackers are ahead of the game and that the anti-virus industry “sucks”.

Chief exec Eva Chen, who co-founded the Tokyo, Japan headquartered-firm in 1988 with Steve Chang, announced last Wednesday a radical shift in business strategy for Trend Micro’s anti-virus software that includes the ability to scrutinise malware “in-the-cloud”.

The change in direction for the company, which competes with the likes of McAfee and Symantec, came about because the nature of the viral attack has evolved, Chen told The Register in an interview last Thursday.

Changes in the malware landscape have led to the creation of multiple variants of different malware strains and targeted attacks. Traditional top down command structures for antivirus distribution are struggling to cope. Trend Micro had little choice but to invest in the new technology. However Chen, who has five patents to her name, admitted that investors nervously questioned her risky decision.

“Building that kind of infrastructure requires a lot of investment and time and I’ve been questioned by Trend Micro investors for the past three years ‘how come your cap ex increased so much?’ and ‘where did you spend all that money?’,” she said.

Chen was also fast to criticise her peers in the anti-virus game: “For me for the last three years I’ve been feeling that the anti-virus industry sucks. If you have 5.5 million new viruses out there how can you claim this industry is doing the right job?”