Shaquille O'Neal says belief in Nord Security prompted him to promote Lithuanian brand

VILNIUS - Legendary basketball player, businessman and philanthropist Shaquille O'Neal, who has become a product ambassador for Nord Security, a cybersecurity company operating under the NordVPN brand and founded by Lithuanian technology and investment group Tesonet, says his belief in the company prompted him to promote the Lithuanian brand.

"I am Shaquille O'Neal. I am very happy," O'Neal greeted participants at a press conference in Vilnius in Lithuanian on Tuesday.

According to the legendary basketball player, relationships with people are the most important factor for him when making such deals. "My agent would tell you that I don't know how much they pay me, but it doesn't matter."

"I have used their services before, so, you know, I only associate myself with great companies, so I knew it was a great company (...). The only thing I have to believe in is the company. I knew who they were. They have been at the top for a while, they are already doing big things," O'Neal said.

"I got a call from the best - NordVPN called and said they wanted to collaborate, and it was a no-brainer," he added.

According to the company, this is the first time in the history of Lithuanian business that a local brand has invited a global star of this level.

According to Nord Security co-founder Tomas Okman, the goal of the partnership is to help people better understand the need for cybersecurity tools. The company is launching its largest marketing campaign to date.

Another co-founder of the company, Eimantas Sabaliauskas, stressed that the partnership would help NordVPN reach a wider audience and make cybersecurity more understandable.

"O'Neal has always been an unstoppable force on the court, in life, even in his DJing skills. That is exactly the image we want. And when we talk about cybersecurity, we wanted it to be intuitive, which is not such an easy topic," Sabaliauskas said.

O'Neal will visit Lithuania on September 29-30. On Tuesday, he will watch Zalgiris' first EuroLeague home game in Kaunas.

O'Neal is a 15-time NBA All-Star, a four-time NBA champion and NBA MVP. He is also a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.

PARTNERSHIP TO LAST MORE THAN A YEAR

The partnership between NordVPN and O'Neal will last for more than a year, with one of the most important joint events planned for later this year in New York. It aims to educate users about safe online behaviour.

NordVPN's antivirus program detects more than 12 million different web addresses daily and blocks an average of 130,000 malicious websites.

The net profit of 360 IT, the company managing Nord Security, grew 2.5 times last year to 93.7 million euros, while revenue increased 1.4 times to 274 million euros.

It was announced that, combining the revenue of NordVPN, other cybersecurity products and VPN provider Surfshark, which grew out of the Tesonet accelerator, Nord Security generated 1 billion euros in revenue last year.