Steganos – Innovative Protection for Digital Privacy

Steganos has been the reference for protecting digital privacy for over 20 years. Founded in 1997 by three school friends in a basement in Frankfurt am Main, today millions of users in a total of 142 countries trust Steganos products made in Germany.

Steganos has never had to close a security vulnerability in its encryption: the products have remained uncracked since their introduction.

There may be cheaper security programs out there, even free ones – but these are often manufactured abroad under questionable legal conditions, with unclear ownership structures and possible backdoors for government agencies. Steganos, by contrast, develops and tests its products through highly qualified software engineers in Germany.

Steganos has always invested in user testing and continuously improves the usability of its products. After all, security is worthless without simplicity of use.

Regular test wins in the trade press and satisfied customers are our best advertising. Almost all Steganos products can be tried extensively before purchase. There are no forced registrations, no spyware and no adware.

Fabian Hansmann, MBA

Founder

Fabian Hansmann M.B.A. is a member of the Entrepreneur's Organization and supports young founders in building their companies. He regularly volunteers as a judge for business plan competitions and is co-founder of netzshopping.de.

Gabriel Yoran, M.A.

Founder

Dipl.-Komm. Gabriel Yoran is an expert in product strategy and conception. Products designed by him have received awards worldwide, including two Webby Awards (the "Internet Oscars") and "Product of the Year" awards from magazines such as PC World. He teaches classes in entrepreneurship and product design.

A Success Story Made in Germany

1994

A lecture by security expert Prof. Dr. Andreas Pfitzmann inspires Fabian Hansmann and Gabriel Yoran to develop software for hiding data in images and music (so-called steganography)

1997

Launch of the world's first commercial steganography software

1999

The Zero Emission Pad is the world's first text editor with anti-Tempest technology against screen eavesdropping

2000

Steganos delivers the first software with the new AES encryption standard

2001

The Steganos Trace Destructor is released as a standalone product and becomes the generic term for an entire product category

2002

Steganos Internet Anonym brings web anonymization to a mass audience and offers solutions to stop unwanted calls from premium-rate dialers

2003

Steganos Secure FileSharing is released, helping prevent the blanket criminalization of file-sharing users

2004

Data protection increasingly becomes a social issue. Under the motto "Freedom Online," Steganos donates part of its proceeds to Amnesty International

2005

Steganos welcomes its three-millionth user

2006

Steganos expands into the USA. Products are now available in German, English, Italian, French, Polish, Dutch, Spanish and Japanese

2007

Steganos Secure Traveller addresses the needs of laptop users

2008

Steganos now protects sensitive data, trade secrets and, not least, the right to freedom of expression in more than 125 countries worldwide

2009

Steganos successfully defends, before a German regional court, its right to keep the connection data of Internet Anonym users confidential

2010

Steganos' founders increase their shareholdings and bring in Maik Klotz (Buhl Data, "WISO") as Managing Director. With Steganos Trace-Free Drives, Steganos presents another innovation for privacy protection

2011

Thanks to the new Steganos Online Banking, banking from home is now safer than in a web browser – and far more convenient

2012

With OkayFreedom, the VPN service against online censorship, Steganos expands its product portfolio in the VPN space

2013

With Steganos Online Shield 365, Steganos offers complete protection against hackers, encrypting the entire internet connection with just one click

2014

With Steganos Online Shield VPN, Steganos integrates the full functionality of Steganos Internet Anonym. With the premium license, users now also get VPN protection for Android smartphones and tablets. CHIP, PC Magazin and PC News all award top marks to the new software

2015

Steganos now offers its proven VPN protection, Steganos Online Shield VPN, as an iOS app for iPad and iPhone. Partnerships with strong partners also drive growing adoption of OkayFreedom VPN

2016

The overhauled Generation 18 of Steganos Privacy Suite, Steganos Data Safe and Steganos Password Manager, with a new, intuitive user interface, meets users' heightened security demands

2017

Steganos expands its portfolio with a new product in the "Windows optimization" category: Steganos Tuning PRO

2018

With mySteganos Online Shield VPN, Steganos presents its first cross-platform VPN solution, now bringing macOS devices safely online too. Users can surf protected and anonymously regardless of location, across four operating systems (Windows, macOS, Android & iOS)

2020

Generation 22 brings a comprehensively revised new version of Steganos Privacy Suite, Password Manager and Data Safe. Steganos also supports the worldwide Covid emergency relief effort by Aktion Deutschland Hilft

2022

Steganos celebrates its 25th company anniversary as the reference for protecting digital privacy with software made in Germany