Sophos

Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer, two Oxford researchers, founded Sophos in Abingdon in 1985, initially selling encryption software. Antivirus followed in the late eighties as the first viruses spread by floppy disk, and from the start Sophos aimed at networks and IT departments rather than retail shelves. The name is Greek for wise, a fact the marketing department rarely let anyone forget.

Buying Germany's Astaro in 2011 took the company into firewalls, followed later by EDR and managed detection. Private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquired Sophos in 2020 for about $3.9 billion. Its Naked Security blog, with Graham Cluley among the writers, was one of the more readable security news sources for over a decade before it was shut down in 2023.