In Appreciation: ESET Founder Rudolf Hruby Passes Away

Rudolf Hruby, a founder and co-owner of Slovakian endpoint security vendor ESET, has died at the age of 69 of unknown causes.

ESET was founded as a private enterprise in 1992 by Hruby, along with Miroslav Trnka and Peter Paško, though its roots go back to 1987, when Czechoslovakia was still under communist rule; the team at that point created the first version of its antivirus product, NOD.

In a message on X, formerly Twitter, ESET said: "For more than 30 years, we have been creating a safer digital world together with Rudolf. ESET will continue this mission."

Hruby was also the majority shareholder of the HC Slovan Bratislava soccer team, which noted in a memoriam posting that Hrubý "was one of the most successful Slovak entrepreneurs in the era of independence."