Facts & Figures

Learn about the major milestones in the history of Wibu-Systems from its founding in 1989 to the present days.

• WIBU-SYSTEMS AG is recognized for its achievements in the "Innovation Success" category among Germany's small to medium-sized enterprises and has won the TOP 100 award 2023. The award uses a scientific selection process led by Professor Nikolaus Franke and evaluates over one hundred criteria across five categories, examining a company's management, innovation climate, processes, openness, and practical success.
• Wibu-Systems' newly founded Wibu Academy offers courses on IT security and publicly funded research projects. Held at the IT Security Club, these are open to software developers, managers, and students, focusing on identifying security vulnerabilities and optimizing research project applications. Continuously expanding the program with various topics and expert instructors, Wibu-Systems aims to enhance IT security knowledge in both theory and practice.
• Wibu-Systems joins the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, a community of 100+ market leading companies committed to creating interoperable solutions and services. In its first OI4-led endeavor, Wibu-Systems is collaborating with Hilscher in the edge computing landscape: the Flagship Store for the OI4 Community provides vendors the opportunity to protect their applications in a streamlined fashion and monetize them easily.
• Wibu-Systems USA has joined the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), North America's largest automation trade association. The company aims to contribute its expertise in industrial software protection and licensing. This membership will involve active engagement in events and discussions shaping the future of the automation industry, emphasizing the importance of IP and digital asset security in this rapidly evolving field.
• The Trust4XChain R&D project, coordinated by Wibu-Systems and participated by Siemens, SEITEC, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security, aims to establish secure, reliable data spaces for distributed value chains, particularly in the context of Industry 4.0. It focuses on protecting production data in transit by cryptographically linking transactions in a trust chain and developing network nodes, or data space gateways, to facilitate secure data exchange.
• The SMILE4KMU R&D project, led by Wibu-Systems and participated by the University of Offenburg and preML, aims to secure machine learning (ML) processes for SMEs. The project's objectives include securing the ML lifecycle in a structured manner, protecting the integrity and IP of training data and models, defining access protection and usage conditions during the training phase itself, and enabling SMEs to implement these security measures economically.
• The Sec4IoMT R&D project, coordinated by Wibu-Systems and participated by partners like Infineon Technologies and SCHÖLLY FIBEROPTIC, addresses the growing need for robust security in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). It focuses on developing secure architectures for medical devices, ensuring long-term protection against cyberattacks. This includes modular concepts, security retrofitting, and maintaining certified functionality.

• Wibu-Systems shows its champion qualities by winning the second German Innovation Award of the German Design Council. Coming hot on the heels of the 2021 award for the novel CmCloudContainers, the prize for 2022 was won for AxProtector JavaScript, the dedicated version of our protection solution that allows JS developers to secure their software natively with all of the comfort and vast feature set familiar to users of CodeMeter.
• After three years of productive work with the Universities of Darmstadt and Offenburg, CloudProtect was unveiled to show how tough software protections could be integrated in a cloud environment. Using Intel’s SGX enclaves as the safe spaces in which the essential cryptographic work is handled, CloudProtect can keep cloud-based applications secure wherever their users may be.
• Part of the European AI-NET initiative that explores the nature and challenges of tomorrow’s communication infrastructures, the ANTILLAS project headed by Creonic / Nokia is developing the fundamental components for communication in critical fields like industry or autonomous vehicles. Wibu-Systems is contributing its security expertise in the form of secure hardware elements to provide cryptographic protections against tampering.

• Wibu-Systems moves into its new home on the company’s campus in Karlsruhe, a masterpiece in tasteful and clever architectural design, smart engineering, and proactive community-building, with a commitment to a positive ecological footprint, an eye for contemporary office design and new work practices, innovative approaches used for its modern R&D and production facilities “made in Germany”, and the unique House of IT Security right next doors.
• Located right next to the new company headquarters in Karlsruhe, the IT Security Club opens its doors in the dedicated House of IT Security. With its exceptional facilities, top-class infrastructure, and a dedicated innovation manager to help members secure funding and raise the profile of their R&D ventures, the club offers a range of membership options for access to its exclusive co-working spaces and vibrant community of IT security professionals.
• Wibu-Systems also opens new offices in the historic center of Stockholm to accommodate its team for the Nordic and Baltic markets. With their tech-positive spirit, its many digital businesses, and its forward-thinking industry, the region is a perfect match for both Wibu-Systems’ products and services and the company’s commitment to innovation.
• Wibu-Systems maintains its reputation as a top innovator by winning the German Innovation Award for its novel CmCloudContainers, the newest addition alongside CmDongles and CmActLicenses to the versatile license container range offered by the company. With exceptional portability, a level of protection to rival the hardware CmDongles, and an innovative user-based binding system, the new containers are the perfect complement for Wibu-Systems’ new cloud products and services.
• ProCloud3D is a groundbreaking research project co-hosted by some of the premier academic institutions in Germany and China, and now includes Wibu-Systems’ expertise with data security in industrial applications. For its vision of smarter, connected manufacturing services in additive manufacturing – 3D printing on an industrial scale – ProCloud3D intends to create such a platform, made possible with Wibu-Systems’ technology for protecting and managing the flow of secure digital assets, from the original product designs to customer billing information.

• After the successful conclusion of the original IUNO project, Germany’s national reference project for cyber-security in Industrie 4.0, in 2018, Wibu-Systems is back to lead IUNO2PAKT, a new iteration working to reinforce the security and resilience of the modern industrial landscape. Wibu-Systems contributes its novel CodeMeter Certificate Vault technology to facilitate the use of certificates as a currency of trust in machine communication. Designed to work with the OPC UA stacks used extensively in industrial automation and adding the versatility of CodeMeter’s choice of containers for certificates, the approach promises to add the necessary ease-of-use and reliable security that certificates need to realize their full potential for the connected industry of tomorrow.
• Joining the high-profile SiEvEI 4.0 consortium spearheaded by Siemens AG, Wibu-Systems contributes its expertise to the development and introduction of a strong hardware and software chain of trust (COT) that is needed to guarantee the agility and responsiveness promised by the vision of smart factories and Industry 4.0. With Wibu-Systems’ expertise in the field of secure smart items and certificate management, the SiEvEI 4.0 project is expanding the potential of the existing technology to provide AI-powered, holistic protection, monitoring, and management capabilities for smart manufacturing systems.
• Coinciding with Wibu-Systems’ own construction projects for the erection of its next headquarters and the House of IT Security, the DigiFab4KMU project is taking recent advances in computer-aided planning and construction as well as building information management (BIM) to a new level with an integrated virtualization system that brings the idea of digital twins from the industrial automation world to the field of construction and building management. Wibu-Systems benefits from the system as one of its pioneering users and brings its own experiences and insights to the table for the design of optimized Industry-4.0-standard processes in industrial construction.

• As Wibu-Systems continues to grow on a global scale and its CodeMeter technology is being embraced by an ever larger user base, the team and its solutions are receiving international plaudits and acknowledgement for the value they contribute. In particular, the company has won the GLOBAL foreign trade award for its business expansion into global markets. CmStick/B received the coveted iF Design Award for its elegant, sturdy, and compact housing. The new CodeMeter Certificate Vault was met with great acclaim at SPS, where it topped the Best-in-Show Award and won a strong runner-up position for the Automation Award. Finally, CodeMeter also made a splash at the Innovation Awards in Italy, the Best Healthcare IoT Security Solution Awards in the US, and the Milestones in Electronics Awards in Germany.
• 1989-2019: Wibu-Systems is proud to play an active role in enabling the strength and securing the future of the global economy. Our work represents an important contribution to the protection of intellectual property, the creation of novel business models, and security everywhere. We strive to inspire trust with transparency and user-friendly solutions. We address the challenges of the digital transformation and connected infrastructures – going beyond the legislative requirements and the commercial interests of our own business – with our commitment to digital sovereignty in our society.
• With the multitude and variety of threats in the digital world, unity in diversity is the key: the House of IT Security that we are building wall-to-wall with our new head offices is designed to combine academic excellence with enterprising minds to boost IT security research and practice, to act as an amplifier for the agility and energy of growing startups, to attract international companies pursuing IT security projects and academic and commercial partnerships to Karlsruhe, to generate new jobs and revenue in the region, and to become a physical beacon of IT security.
• Our partnership with the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) enters a new stage: For several years, we have been offering dual courses in computer science. With the start of the new academic year, we are also participating in dual training for software engineers specializing in business informatics. The results are staggering: 80% of graduates from the dual study courses sign permanent employment contracts long before the end of their studies!
• Under the leadership of Infineon Technologies AG and as part of the ALESSIO research project framework, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security (AISEC), Giesecke+Devrient Mobile Security, Siemens, the Technical University of Munich, and Wibu-Systems have developed updatable security mechanisms for connected computer applications and embedded systems that can provide state-of-the-art protections over the long term.

• Wibu-Systems joins the Industrial Internet Consortium, an international, not-for-profit association that coordinates vast ecosystem initiatives to set secure architectural frameworks for the connected industry.
• Wibu-Systems is selected to become part of IUNO, the German National Reference Project for IT security in Industrie 4.0, whose mission is to provide operational, robust, efficient, and scalable blueprints for medium-sized manufacturers.
• Wibu-Systems is one of the first security partners to sign up to ISPN, the Infineon Security Partner Network, which offers a constellation of security solutions to providers of connected devices and applications.
• In a collaborative project with Belden, Deutsche Telekom, and Infineon, Wibu-Systems demonstrates a secure communication setup between remote production sites to furnish Industrie 4.0 with practical security models “Made in Germany”.
• Oliver Winzenried, CEO and founder of Wibu-Systems, is awarded the title of “Manager of the Year” in the “Automation” category by the readers of the German weekly electronics newspaper “Markt&Technik”.

• 25-year anniversary: a milestone in Wibu-Systems's history that underlines the dedication to protection, licensing and security of the company.
• Wibu-Systems is named SIIA Content CODiE Awards winner for Best Content Rights and Delivery Solution.
• The leading technology for security in the embedded world, CodeMeter Embedded Driver, is completely redesigned.
• The new encryption method Blurry Box is born and gains the first prize at the 5th German IT Security Awards.
• CodeMeter supports a new Linux flavor; the new preconfigured SDK includes the RaspberryPi version “Compute Module”.

• Wibu-Systems joins the Alliance for Security, as part of its mission to secure connected applications.
• New CodeMeter form factors (CmCard/CFast, CmStick/IV) are released with industrial automation in mind, offering a space saving design, extended temperature range, and highly reliable fast memory features.
• CmWAN is launched to answer licensing needs in the cloud.
• New Wibu-Systems offices are opened in France.

• Wibu-Systems recruits new personnel to boost its development, support, sales and consulting capacities.
• The new CmDongle firmware featurs field update from ISVs applications, 2048 RSA key encryption, and a “maintenance period” license model.
• CodeMeter is integrated with CODESYS IEC 61131-3 development tools and target systems.
• Wibu-Systems becomes a member of the OPC foundation and continues to pursue new alliances in the field of industrial automation.

• Wibu-Systems inaugurates the world's first hackers' contest for CmStick (prize money worth US$ 40,000). CmStick remains uncrackable!
• Wibu-Systems is named finalist at the SIIA CODiE Awards in the category "Best Digital Rights Management“.

• A platform-independent protection for Java applications is released.
• Wibu-Systems offices are opened in China.

• All WibuKey products obtain UL listing (Underwriter Laboratories) for the USA and Canada.

• Wibu-Systems gains the certification according to ISO 9001:2000 standards.

• The company increases its capital and changes its legal form to become WIBU-SYSTEMS AG.

• The first dongle as a PCMCIA card is introduced at the COMDEX/Fall, Las Vegas, USA.

• The company changes its legal form to become WIBU-SYSTEMS GmbH.