What MRG Effitas does

MRG Effitas Limited is an independent, UK-based cybersecurity efficacy testing and assurance company founded in 2009 by Chris Pickard and headquartered in Portsmouth, England (registered company number 10026283). The firm provides third-party validation that endpoint protection, mobile security, and anti-malware products actually work against real-world threats, serving digital security vendors (Malwarebytes, Webroot, Carbon Black, Microsoft, Broadcom/Symantec, Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, ESET, McAfee, Secureworks, Threatlocker) and enterprises with large endpoint estates, including a multi-billion-dollar healthcare delivery organization covering 45,000+ endpoints and 150,000+ medical devices.

The company's core technology is Tempus, a proprietary real-time virtualized testing environment that delivers continuous efficacy testing with 24/7 access to results, instant alerts via email, Slack, and Discord when threats are missed, and detailed feedback including hashes, logs, screenshots, and downloadable threat samples. Tempus powers the 360° Assessment and Certification program, a quarterly public test suite covering 360° protection, ransomware, exploit, online banking, and phishing, with Level 1 (100% detection on first exposure) and Level 2 (>98% blocking rate) certification tiers; an Android Efficacy Assessment using a proprietary "ANT" (Android, the Next Testbed) methodology; Private Testing engagements for pre-launch, pre-IPO, and VC use cases; and Threat Feeds supplying over 300,000 fresh, prevalent malware samples daily, many under 24 hours old, sourced from honeypots worldwide.

Revenue is generated primarily through subscription/recurring streams (Threat Feeds with a 1-month free trial and quote-based annual billing, plus 360° Assessment panel participation) and professional services (Private Testing, including MVI certification). The firm is AMTSO-compliant, Microsoft MVI-accredited, an AMTSO RTTL Contributor of the Year (2022), and has been cited in a major vendor's NASDAQ IPO registration. Distribution is direct, global, and enterprise-led, supported by content marketing, industry conference presence (Virus Bulletin), and AMTSO community engagement.

Name

MRG Effitas

Legal name

MRG Effitas Limited

Website

https://mrg-effitas.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MRG Effitas is an independent UK-based cybersecurity efficacy testing firm that provides real-time endpoint protection testing (Tempus), 360° certifications, and 300,000+ daily malware threat feeds to digital security vendors and large enterprises.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. 360° Public Assessment & Certification: Quarterly public testing and certification of enterprise endpoint protection and Android security products. Vendors voluntarily submit products for rigorous independent testing with results published publicly. Includes dispute process and certification badges for Level 1 and Level 2 performers.
2. Private Testing Services: Private testing and certification for vendors pre-launch, pre-IPO, or VC investment. Also includes continuous product improvement testing and competitor comparison testing. Testing as a Service using Tempus for enterprises.
3. Threat Feeds Subscription: Supply of fresh malware samples including suspicious binaries, ransomware, APKs, macOS, Linux ELF, MS Office/PDFs, and malicious URLs. Over 300,000 samples daily with 1-month free trial. Feed types include Suspicious Binary, macOS, Android, Ransomware, Linux, MS Office/PDF, and URL feeds.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

MRG Effitas provides independent, real-time cybersecurity efficacy testing and certification for endpoint protection products through its proprietary Tempus platform, alongside public 360° Assessment certifications and private Testing as a Service engagements. It also supplies Threat Feeds—over 300,000 fresh malware samples daily—used by vendors for product improvement, machine learning training, and sandbox testing.

Product overview

MRG Effitas offers a suite of cybersecurity testing and certification services centered around its real-time testing technology platform called Tempus. The core offerings include the 360° Assessment and Certification (quarterly public testing for enterprise endpoint protection and Android security products), Private Testing (confidential testing for pre-launch products or IPO certification), and Threat Feeds (supplying over 300,000 fresh malware samples daily). Tempus powers the real-time continuous testing capabilities, delivering instant alerts via Slack and Discord when threats are missed. The company operates as an independent testing lab accredited by Microsoft MVI and is a member of AMTSO.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tempus: Real-time testing and alerts technology platform that provides continuous independent testing with instant alerts when threats are missed.
• 360° Assessment
• 360° Android Assessment

Products and services

• Tempus Real-time endpoint efficacy testing platform providing continuous independent testing with instant alerts when threats are missed, along with detailed feedback including hashes, logs, screenshots, and downloadable threat samples. Used by digital security vendors for continuous product improvement and by enterprises for real-time threat monitoring.
• 360° Assessment and Certification

Quantifiable outcome

• ThreatDown achieved Level 1 certification for 14 consecutive quarters across all 360° Assessment certifications
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025MRG Effitas is now a Microsoft MVI-accredited test lab. The 360° Assessment is one of the trusted certifications for MVI program. Vendors certified at Level 2 or higher in 360° Assessment are automatically MVI certified (subject to Microsoft approval). MRG can also supply one-off private annual MVI tests on request. MVI provides tools, resources, and collaboration on platform capability development for anti-malware technologies integrating with Windows systems.
• AMTSO (Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Active member of AMTSO, the cybersecurity industry's testing standard community. Participates in RTTL (Real-Time Threat List) program, sharing threat intelligence data at high scale and contributing to operational planning. Won AMTSO's RTTL Contributor of the Year award in 2022. Test plans and methodology publicly available on AMTSO site.
• Virus BulletinminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMRG Effitas presents at Virus Bulletin conferences including VB 2024 in Dublin. CTO Zsombor Kovacs and Broadcom's Liam O'Murchu presented white paper on Adaptive Protection testing at VB 2024.
• MalwarebytescoreTechnology or IntegrationMalwarebytes beta tested Tempus real-time testing platform. Senior Director of Threat Labs Joe Hartmann provided testimonial on real-time notification enabling rapid product updates. ThreatDown by Malwarebytes won MRG Effitas' Enterprise Endpoint Protection Product of the Year 2025 for achieving 14 consecutive quarters of Level 1 certification.
• WebrootcoreTechnology or IntegrationLongstanding relationship with Webroot conducting efficacy testing, comparative tests using In-the-Wild malware, Time to Detect tests, phishing protection tests, SAT protection tests, and simulator/botnet tests. Webroot praised MRG's unique capacity to test beyond simple threat blocking and innovative testing methodologies.
• Carbon BlackcoreTechnology or IntegrationMRG Effitas certified Carbon Black's ransomware protection feature in Cb Defense product prior to IPO. Tested both online and offline configurations, with Cb Defense blocking all 42 ransomware families deployed. Carbon Black completed IPO on May 4, 2018 citing MRG certification. CTO Michael Viscuso provided endorsement of MRG's innovative approach.
• Broadcom (Symantec)coreTechnology or IntegrationMRG Effitas tested Symantec's Adaptive Protection technology using Tempus virtualized test environment. Testing revealed that Adaptive Protection blocks potential Living Off the Land attacks 4 seconds faster. Joint white paper published. CTO Zsombor Kovacs and Broadcom's Liam O'Murchu presented findings at Virus Bulletin VB 2024.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• AV-Comparatives: Independent Austrian-based testing lab that conducts periodic efficacy and performance assessments of endpoint security products. Directly comparable to MRG Effitas on the 360° Assessment and public certification model, competing for the same EPP vendor participation.
• AV-TEST: Germany-based independent IT-security research institute that runs continuous endpoint and consumer security product testing. Closest direct peer in terms of cadence, methodology transparency, and global analyst mindshare; competes directly for vendor testing fees and threat feeds.
• SE Labs: UK-based security testing lab that conducts enterprise and consumer endpoint/email/network product assessments with publicly reported certification levels. Highly comparable to MRG Effitas on UK origin, independent methodology, and quarterly public reporting cadence.
• MITRE Engenuity (ATT&CK Evaluations): Runs ATT&CK Evaluations for EDR vendors under controlled conditions, producing widely cited vendor comparisons. Directly comparable as a third-party efficacy benchmark competing for EDR/XDR vendor attention, though methodologically distinct (behavioral vs. malware-block testing).
• NSS Labs: Independent security product testing and research firm historically known for enterprise firewall, EDR, and breach detection group tests. Comparable as an enterprise-focused third-party efficacy testing competitor, though currently operating at reduced capacity.

Emerging players

• OPSWAT (MetaDefender Cloud / Sandbox): Provides file-scanning and sandbox threat-detection services with threat intelligence feeds. Comparable in the threat-feed and malware-analysis dimension of MRG Effitas' Threat Feeds business, though OPSWAT primarily serves integration/aggregation use cases rather than vendor certification.

Regional players

• Virus Bulletin: UK-based cybersecurity publication and conference that historically ran VB100 certification for endpoint products. Comparable as a UK-anchored testing authority and conference channel; less active in ongoing efficacy testing but adjacent as a community and standards venue.

Broad incumbents

• ICSA Labs (an Approved Testing Lab of Verizon Business): Long-running independent testing and certification lab for security products (anti-malware, network, etc.). Comparable as an accredited certification body, though with a broader product scope and incumbent enterprise positioning relative to MRG Effitas' specialist EPP focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mrg-effitas
• Xx.com/mrgeffitas

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MRG Effitas