The company develops enterprise security software for servers, containers, and cloud computing environments, networks, and end points.

[9][10] The company was established with proceeds from Steve Chang's previous sale of a copy protection dongle to a United States–based Rainbow Technologies.

[13] In 2004, founding chief executive officer Steve Chang decided to split the responsibilities of CEO and chairman of the company.

[16] Kelkea developed Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) and IP filtering software that allowed internet service providers to block spam and phishing scams.

[16] In March 2007, Trend Micro acquired freeware antispyware program HijackThis from its creator Merijn Bellekom for an undisclosed sum.

[31] In June 2012, Trend Micro acquired US-based Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate provider AffirmTrust for an undisclosed sum.

[33] The technology was integrated into Trend Micro's Custom Defense Solution, a suite that was designed to provide network-wide visibility and protection against advanced attacks and threats.

According to INTERPOL, the information helped the international police organization and its 190 member countries decrease cybercrime on a global scale.

[38] In October 2015, Trend Micro reached an agreement to buy TippingPoint, a network and software security developer from HP Inc. for $US300 million.

[39][40][41] This included the bug bounty program, the Zero Day Initiative which was incorporated in Trend Micro Research's focus on existing threats, vulnerabilities, and future potential security issues.

[44] Trend announced the launch of a $US100 million venture capital investment fund in June 2017 focused on the next generation of technology including the Internet of Things (IoT).

[45][46] In September 2017, Trend Micro was awarded reimbursement through the U.S. District Court for a portion of the legal fees incurred over rejected patent claims filed by Intellectual Ventures.

[51] In November 2017, Trend Micro acquired IMMUNIO, adding new capabilities for hybrid cloud security that fit neatly into the DevOps life cycle.

[53][54] In April 2018, Trend Micro joined the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a public agreement between companies to defend all customers from malicious attacks by cybercriminal gangs and nation states.

[55] In August 2018, researchers discovered that several Trend Micro consumer products for MacOS were capturing browser history and other data, including passwords, and sending it to a remote server for initial analysis designed to enhance security.

It also apologized to its "community for concern they might have felt", but went on to excuse the activity as being "humbly the result of the use of common code libraries", and that, in any event, appropriation of users' data was "explicitly disclosed in the applicable EULAs".

[57] In September 2018 Trend Micro and HITRUST announced a partnership to launch a new center which provides advanced cyber risk management.

[59] In November 2018 Trend Micro and Moxa Inc., announced the formation of a joint-venture corporation, TXOne Networks, which will focus on the security needs present in the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) environments.

[60] In March 2019, Trend Micro announced a partnership to share threat information with The Japanese Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC).

[69] Additionally, Trend Micro announced a cloud security integration with AWS Gateway Load Balancer, to make it easier for corporations to implement and manage third party virtual appliances.

[78] In October, Trend Micro partnered with Fujitsu Limited and automotive-related manufacturers to strengthen connected car security measures.

[89] Threat information from Trend Micro's Smart Protection Network is deployed in real time to the company's security software portfolio.

[93] In February 2018, Trend Micro partnered with Panasonic to build more secure systems for electronic control units in automated cars.