---
ticker: GEN
company: GEN
filing_type: 10-K
year_current: 2024
year_prior: 2023
risks_added: 2
risks_removed: 1
risks_modified: 4
risks_unchanged: 26
source: SEC EDGAR
url: https://riskdiff.com/gen/2024-vs-2023/
markdown_url: https://riskdiff.com/gen/2024-vs-2023/index.md
generated: 2026-06-01
---

# GEN: 10-K Risk Factor Changes 2024 vs 2023

> Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR)  
> Generated: 2026-06-01  
> All data extracted directly from official filings. No hallucinated content.

## Summary

| Status | Count |
|--------|-------|
| New risks added | 2 |
| Risks removed | 1 |
| Risks modified | 4 |
| Unchanged | 26 |

---

## New in Current Filing: Issues in the development and deployment of AI may result in reputational harm and legal liability and could adversely affect our results of operations.

We have incorporated, and are continuing to develop and deploy, AI into many of our products, solutions and services. AI presents challenges and risks that could affect our products, solutions and services, and therefore our business. For example, AI algorithms may have flaws, and datasets used to train models may be insufficient or contain biased information. These potential issues could subject us to regulatory risk, legal liability, including under new proposed legislation regulating AI in jurisdictions such as the EU and regulations being considered in other jurisdictions, and brand or reputational harm. The rapid evolution of AI, including potential government regulation of AI, requires us to invest significant resources to develop, test, and maintain AI in our products and services in a manner that meets evolving requirements and expectations. The rules and regulations adopted by policymakers over time may require us to make changes to our business practices. Developing, testing, and deploying AI systems may also increase the cost profile of our offerings due to the nature of the computing costs involved in such systems. 12 12 12 Table of Contents Table of Contents The intellectual property ownership and license rights surrounding AI technologies, as well as data protection laws related to the use and development of AI, are currently not fully addressed by courts or regulators. The use or adoption of AI technologies in our products may result in exposure to claims by third parties of copyright infringement or other intellectual property misappropriation, which may require us to pay compensation or license fees to third parties. The evolving legal, regulatory, and compliance framework for AI technologies may also impact our ability to protect our own data and intellectual property against infringing use.

---

## New in Current Filing: Our corporate and legal entity structure and intercompany arrangements are subject to the tax laws of various jurisdictions, and we could be obligated to pay additional taxes, which would harm our results of operations.

We generally conduct our international operations through wholly-owned subsidiaries and are or may be required to report our taxable income in various jurisdictions worldwide based upon our business operations in those jurisdictions. Our intercompany relationships are subject to complex transfer pricing regulations administered by taxing authorities in various jurisdictions. The amount of taxes we pay in different jurisdictions may depend on a variety of factors including the application of the tax laws of those various jurisdictions (including the U.S.) to our international business activities, changes in tax rates, new or revised tax laws or interpretations of existing tax laws and policies, and our ability to operate our business in a manner consistent with our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements. The relevant taxing authorities have in the past and may in the future disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a disagreement were to occur, and our position was not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations.

---

## No Match in Current: From time to time we are a party to lawsuits and investigations, which typically require significant management time and attention and result in significant legal expenses.

*This section from the 2023 filing does not have a high-confidence textual match in 2024. It may have been removed, merged, or substantially reworded.*

We are frequently involved in litigation and other proceedings, including, but not limited to, patent litigation, class actions, and governmental claims or investigations, some of which may be material initially or become material over time. The expense of initiating and defending, and in some cases settling, such matters may be costly and divert management's attention from the day-to-day operations of our business, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, such matters may through the course of litigation or other proceedings change unfavorably which could alter the profile of the matter and create potential material risk to the company. Any unfavorable outcome in a matter could result in significant fines, settlements, monetary damages, or injunctive relief that could negatively and materially impact our ability to conduct our business, results of operations, and cash flows. Additionally, in the event we did not previously accrue for such 20 20 20 Table of Contents Table of Contents litigation or proceeding in our financial statements, we may be required to record retrospective accruals that adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

---

## Modified: Changes in industry structure and market conditions have and may continue to lead to charges related to discontinuance of certain of our products or businesses and asset impairments.

**Key changes:**

- Reworded sentence: "In response to changes in industry structure and market conditions, we have been and may continue to be required to strategically reallocate our resources and consider restructuring, disposing of, or otherwise exiting certain businesses."
- Reworded sentence: "Our loss contingencies have and may continue to include liabilities for contracts that we cannot cancel, reschedule or adjust with suppliers."
- Reworded sentence: "Additionally, we are required to evaluate goodwill impairment on an annual basis and between annual evaluations in certain circumstances."

**Prior (2023):**

In response to changes in industry structure and market conditions, we may be required to strategically reallocate our resources and consider restructuring, disposing of, or otherwise exiting certain businesses. Any decision to limit investment in or dispose of or otherwise exit businesses may result in the recording of special charges, such as technology-related write-offs, workforce reduction costs, charges relating to consolidation of excess facilities, or claims from third parties who were resellers or users of discontinued products. Our estimates with respect to the useful life or ultimate recoverability of our carrying basis of assets, including purchased intangible assets, could change as a result of such assessments and decisions. Our loss contingencies may include liabilities for contracts that we cannot cancel, reschedule or adjust with suppliers. Further, our estimates relating to the liabilities for excess facilities are affected by changes in real estate market conditions. Additionally, we are required to evaluate goodwill impairment on an annual basis and between annual evaluations in certain circumstances, and future goodwill impairment evaluations may result in a charge to earnings.

**Current (2024):**

In response to changes in industry structure and market conditions, we have been and may continue to be required to strategically reallocate our resources and consider restructuring, disposing of, or otherwise exiting certain businesses. Any decision to limit investment in or dispose of or otherwise exit businesses has and may continue to result in the recording of special charges, such as technology-related write-offs, workforce reduction costs, charges relating to consolidation of excess facilities, or claims from third parties who were resellers or users of discontinued products. Our estimates with respect to the useful life or ultimate recoverability of our carrying basis of assets, including purchased intangible assets, could change as a result of such assessments and decisions. Our loss contingencies have and may continue to include liabilities for contracts that we cannot cancel, reschedule or adjust with suppliers. Further, our estimates relating to the liabilities for excess facilities are affected by changes in real estate market conditions. Additionally, we are required to evaluate goodwill impairment on an annual basis and between annual evaluations in certain circumstances. Goodwill impairment evaluations have previously and may result in a charge to earnings.

---

## Modified: Our solutions, systems, websites and the data on these sources have been in the past and may continue to be subject to cybersecurity events that could materially harm our reputation and future sales.

**Key changes:**

- Reworded sentence: "We expect to continue to be a target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance and availability of our offerings and harm our reputation as a leading cyber security company."
- Reworded sentence: "Similarly, experienced computer programmers or other sophisticated individuals or entities, including malicious hackers, state-sponsored organizations, and insider threats including actions by employees and third-party service providers, have attempted to penetrate, and in some cases have penetrated, our network security or the security of our vendors or suppliers."
- Reworded sentence: "Any such circumstance could adversely affect our ability to attract and maintain customers as well as strategic partners, cause us to suffer negative publicity or damage to our brand, and 16 16 16 Table of Contents Table of Contents subject us to legal claims and liabilities or regulatory penalties."
- Reworded sentence: "Several recent, highly publicized data security breaches, such as the large-scale attacks by foreign nation state actors, the global incident involving the MOVEit file transfer software, and a significant uptick in ransomware/extortion attacks at other companies, have heightened consumer awareness of this issue and may embolden individuals or groups to target our systems or those of our strategic partners or enterprise customers."
- Removed sentence: "17 17 17 Table of Contents Table of Contents"

**Prior (2023):**

Despite our precautions and significant ongoing investments to protect against security risks, data protection breaches, cyber-attacks, and other intentional disruptions of our solutions, we expect to continue to be a target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance and availability of our offerings and harm our reputation as a leading cyber security company. In addition, we face the risk of cyberattacks by nation-states and state-sponsored actors. These attacks may target us, our partners, suppliers, vendors or customers. Similarly, experienced computer programmers or other sophisticated individuals or entities, including malicious hackers, state-sponsored organizations, and insider threats including actions by employees and third-party service providers, could or have attempted to penetrate, and in some cases have penetrated, our network security or the security of our vendors or suppliers. Such attempts are increasing in number and in technical sophistication, and could expose us and the affected parties, to risk of loss or misuse of proprietary, personal or confidential information or disruptions of our business operations. When a data breach occurs, our information technology systems and infrastructure can be subject to damage, compromise, disruption, and shutdown due to attacks or breaches by hackers or other circumstances, such as error or malfeasance by employees or third-party service providers or technology malfunction. There is no guarantee that these issues will not ultimately result in significant legal, financial, and reputational harm, including government inquiries, enforcement actions, litigation, and negative publicity. There is also no guarantee that a series of issues may not be determined to be material at a later date in the aggregate, even if they may not be material individually at the time of their occurrence. The occurrence of any of these events, as well as a failure to promptly remedy them when they occur, could compromise our systems and the information stored in our systems. Any such circumstance could adversely affect our ability to attract and maintain customers as well as strategic partners, cause us to suffer negative publicity or damage to our brand, and subject us to legal claims and liabilities or regulatory penalties. In addition, unauthorized parties might alter information in our databases, which would adversely affect both the reliability of that information and our ability to market and perform our services as well as undermine our ability to remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently, are constantly evolving and generally are difficult to recognize and react to effectively. We are not always able to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate or timely preventive or reactive measures. Several recent, highly publicized data security breaches, including large-scale attacks by foreign nation state actors and a significant uptick in ransomware/extortion attacks at other companies, have heightened consumer awareness of this issue and may embolden individuals or groups to target our systems or those of our strategic partners or enterprise customers. As an example, a threat actor could exploit a new vulnerability before we complete our remediation work or identify a vulnerability that we did not effectively remediate. If that happens, there could be unauthorized access to, or acquisition of, data we maintain, and damage to our systems. We could also face legal action from individuals, business partners, and regulators in connection with data breaches, which would result in increased costs and fees incurred in our defense against those proceedings, and/or payment of any regulatory penalties. 17 17 17 Table of Contents Table of Contents

**Current (2024):**

We expect to continue to be a target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance and availability of our offerings and harm our reputation as a leading cyber security company. In addition, we face the risk of cyberattacks by nation-states and state-sponsored actors, which may increase or heighten due to geopolitical tensions. These attacks may target us, our partners, suppliers, vendors or customers. Similarly, experienced computer programmers or other sophisticated individuals or entities, including malicious hackers, state-sponsored organizations, and insider threats including actions by employees and third-party service providers, have attempted to penetrate, and in some cases have penetrated, our network security or the security of our vendors or suppliers. Such attempts are increasing in number and in technical sophistication, including through the use of AI, and have in the past and could in the future expose us and the affected parties, to risk of loss or misuse of proprietary, personal or confidential information or disruptions of our business operations. In addition, our internal IT environment continues to evolve. We embrace new ways of sharing data and communicating internally and with partners and customers using methods such as social networking and other consumer-oriented technologies. We also remain vigilant with the increasing use of generative AI models in our internal systems which may create new attack methods for adversaries. Our business policies and internal security controls may not keep pace with these changes as new threats emerge, or emerging cybersecurity regulations in jurisdictions worldwide. When a data breach occurs, our information technology systems and infrastructure can be subject to damage, compromise, disruption, and shutdown due to attacks or breaches by hackers or other circumstances, such as error or malfeasance by employees or third-party service providers, phishing, social engineering, account takeovers, vulnerability exploitation, misconfigurations, ransomware, or technology malfunction. A data breach may result in significant legal, financial, and reputational harm, including government inquiries, enforcement actions, litigation, and negative publicity. A series of breaches may be determined to be material at a later date in the aggregate, even if they may not be material individually at the time of their occurrence. The occurrence of any of these events, as well as a failure to promptly remedy them when they occur, could compromise our systems and the information stored in our systems. Any such circumstance could adversely affect our ability to attract and maintain customers as well as strategic partners, cause us to suffer negative publicity or damage to our brand, and 16 16 16 Table of Contents Table of Contents subject us to legal claims and liabilities or regulatory penalties. In addition, unauthorized parties might alter information in our databases, which would adversely affect both the reliability of that information and our ability to market and perform our services as well as undermine our ability to remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently, are constantly evolving and generally are difficult to recognize and react to effectively. We are not always able to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate or timely preventive or reactive measures. Several recent, highly publicized data security breaches, such as the large-scale attacks by foreign nation state actors, the global incident involving the MOVEit file transfer software, and a significant uptick in ransomware/extortion attacks at other companies, have heightened consumer awareness of this issue and may embolden individuals or groups to target our systems or those of our strategic partners or enterprise customers. Threat actors have previously and could in the future exploit a new vulnerability before we complete our remediation work or identify a vulnerability that we did not effectively remediate. If that happens, there could be unauthorized access to, or acquisition of, data we maintain, and damage to our systems. We could also face legal action from individuals, business partners, and regulators in connection with data breaches, which would result in increased costs and fees incurred in our defense against those proceedings, and/or payment of any regulatory penalties.

---

## Modified: We may need to change our pricing models to compete successfully.

**Key changes:**

- Reworded sentence: "The intense competition we face, in addition to general and economic business conditions (including economic volatility, bank failures, and high inflation and interest rates, among other things), may put pressure on us to change our pricing practices."
- Reworded sentence: "Additionally, changes in the macroeconomic environment have previously and may continue to affect our business."
- Removed sentence: "Additionally, our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to inflation, changes in foreign currency exchange rates relative to U.S."
- Removed sentence: "dollars, our reporting currency, and changes in interest rates."
- Removed sentence: "Growth in our international operations will incrementally increase our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations as well as volatile market conditions, including the weakening of foreign currencies relative to USD, which has and may in the future negatively affect our revenue expressed in USD."

**Prior (2023):**

The intense competition we face, in addition to general and economic business conditions (including economic volatility, recent bank failures, and increased inflation and interest rates, among other things), may put pressure on us to change our pricing practices. If our competitors offer deep discounts on certain solutions or provide offerings, or offer free introductory products that compete with ours, we may need to lower prices or offer similar free introductory products to compete successfully. Similarly, if external factors, such as economic conditions, market trends, or business combinations require us to raise our prices, our ability to acquire new customers and retain existing customers may be diminished. Any such changes may reduce revenue and margins and could adversely affect our financial results. Additionally, our business may be affected by changes in the macroeconomic environment. Our solutions are discretionary purchases, and customers may reduce or eliminate their discretionary spending on our solutions during a difficult macroeconomic environment. We may experience a material increase in cancellations by customers or a material reduction in our retention rate in the future, especially in the event of a prolonged recession or a worsening of current conditions as a result of inflation, changes in interest rates, or other macroeconomic events. We may have to lower our prices or make other changes to our pricing model to address these dynamics, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. Additionally, our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to inflation, changes in foreign currency exchange rates relative to U.S. dollars, our reporting currency, and changes in interest rates. Growth in our international operations will incrementally increase our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations as well as volatile market conditions, including the weakening of foreign currencies relative to USD, which has and may in the future negatively affect our revenue expressed in USD. Volatile market conditions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and retaliatory sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus, and other global or macroeconomic events have, at times, and may in the future negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows. Finally, in January 2021, we acquired Germany-based Avira and in September 2022, we completed the Merger with Avast. Many of Avira's and Avast's users are freemium subscribers, meaning they do not pay for its basic services. Much of our anticipated growth in connection with the Avira acquisition and the Merger with Avast is attributable to attracting and converting Avira's and Avast's freemium users to a paid subscription option. Numerous factors, however, may impede our ability to attract free users, convert these users into paying customers and retain them.

**Current (2024):**

The intense competition we face, in addition to general and economic business conditions (including economic volatility, bank failures, and high inflation and interest rates, among other things), may put pressure on us to change our pricing practices. If our competitors offer deep discounts on certain solutions, provide offerings, or offer free introductory products that compete with ours, we may need to lower our prices or offer similar free introductory products to compete successfully. Similarly, if external factors, such as economic conditions, market trends, or business combinations require us to raise our prices, our ability to acquire new customers and retain existing customers may be diminished. Any such changes may reduce revenue and margins and could adversely affect our financial results. Additionally, changes in the macroeconomic environment have previously and may continue to affect our business. Our solutions are discretionary purchases, and customers may reduce or eliminate their discretionary spending on our solutions during a difficult macroeconomic environment. We may experience a material increase in cancellations by customers or a material reduction in our retention rate in the future, especially in the event of a prolonged recession or a worsening of current conditions as a result of inflation, changes in interest rates, or other macroeconomic events. We may have to lower our prices or make other changes to our pricing model to address these dynamics, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. Many of Avira's and Avast's users are freemium subscribers, meaning they do not pay for its basic services. Much of our anticipated growth in connection with the Avira and Avast acquisitions are attributable to attracting and converting Avira's and Avast's freemium users to a paid subscription option. Numerous factors, however, have previously and may continue to impede our ability to attract and retain free users, convert these users into paying customers and retain them as paying customers.

---

## Modified: From time to time we are party to lawsuits and investigations, and third parties have claimed and additional third parties in the future may claim that we infringe their proprietary rights, which has previously and could in the future require significant management time and attention, cause us to incur significant legal expenses and prevent us from selling our products.

**Key changes:**

- Reworded sentence: "We are frequently involved in litigation and other proceedings, including, but not limited to, class actions and governmental claims or investigations, some of which may be material initially or become material over time."
- Reworded sentence: "In addition, former employers of our former, current or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us confidential or proprietary information of these former employers."
- Reworded sentence: "We have made and expect to continue making significant expenditures to investigate, defend and settle claims related to the use of technology and intellectual property rights as part of our strategy to manage this risk."

**Prior (2023):**

Third parties have claimed and, from time to time, additional third parties may claim that we have infringed their intellectual property rights, including claims regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Because of constant technological change in the segments in which we compete, the extensive patent coverage of existing technologies, and the rapid rate of issuance of new patents, it is possible that the number of these claims may grow. In addition, former employers of our former, current, or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us confidential or proprietary information of these former employers. Any such claim, with or without merit, could result in costly litigation and distract management from day-to-day operations. If we are not successful in defending such claims, we could be required to stop selling, delay shipments of, or redesign our solutions, pay monetary amounts as damages, enter into royalty or licensing arrangements, or satisfy indemnification obligations that we have with some of our partners. We cannot assure you that any royalty or licensing arrangements that we may seek in such circumstances will be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. We have made and expect to continue making significant expenditures to investigate, defend, and settle claims related to the use of technology and intellectual property rights as part of our strategy to manage this risk. In addition, we license and use software from third parties in our business and generally must rely on those third parties to protect the licensed rights. These third-party software licenses may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all and may expose us to additional liability. This liability, or our inability to use any of this third-party software, could result in delivery delays or other disruptions in our business that could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

**Current (2024):**

We are frequently involved in litigation and other proceedings, including, but not limited to, class actions and governmental claims or investigations, some of which may be material initially or become material over time. The expense of initiating and defending, and in some cases settling, such matters may be costly and divert management's attention from the day-to-day operations of our business, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, such matters may through the course of litigation or other proceedings change unfavorably which could alter the profile of the matter and create potential material risk to the company. Any unfavorable outcome in a matter could result in significant fines, settlements, monetary damages, or injunctive relief that could negatively and materially impact our ability to conduct our business, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, in the event we did not previously accrue for such litigation or proceeding in our financial statements, we may be required to record retrospective accruals that adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, third parties have claimed and, from time to time, additional third parties may claim that we have infringed their intellectual property rights, including claims regarding patents, copyrights and trademarks. For additional information on such claims, please refer to Note 18 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Because of constant technological change in the segments in which we compete, the extensive patent coverage of existing technologies, and the rapid rate of issuance of new patents, it is possible that the number of these claims may grow. In addition, former employers of our former, current or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us confidential or proprietary information of these former employers. Any such claim, with or without merit, could result in costly litigation and distract management from day-to-day operations. If we are not successful in defending such claims, we could be required to stop selling, delay shipments of, or redesign our solutions, pay monetary amounts as damages, enter into royalty or licensing arrangements, or satisfy indemnification obligations that we have with some of our partners. We cannot assure you that any royalty or licensing arrangements that we may seek in such circumstances will be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. We have made and expect to continue making significant expenditures to investigate, defend and settle claims related to the use of technology and intellectual property rights as part of our strategy to manage this risk. In addition, we license and use software from third parties in our business and generally must rely on those third parties to protect the licensed rights. These third-party software licenses may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all and may expose us to additional liability. This liability, or our inability to use any of this third-party software, could result in delivery delays or other disruptions in our business that could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

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*Data sourced from SEC EDGAR. Last updated 2026-06-01.*