CUPERTINO, Calif., Sep 22, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today announced Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0, the world's premier global early warning system. Scheduled to be available at the end of September, this early warning security system provides the most comprehensive view of the Internet security landscape. It proactively alerts organizations of active attacks to which they are vulnerable, and offers expert analysis with detailed countermeasures to mitigate risk.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System tracks threats as they develop and gives organizations the accurate, empirical data necessary to make informed and intelligent corporate security decisions. In addition to firewall and intrusion detection data generated by 20,000 partner sites in more than 180 countries, worldwide virus data will now be integrated into the Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System. This data is gathered by Symantec's sophisticated Digital Immune System and represents activity affecting the Internet worldwide, providing a new measure of virus outbreak severity.

"With more than 70 new vulnerabilities and 100 new viruses identified each week, organizations will now have access to the targeted intelligence they need to stay a step ahead of Internet threats like the recent Blaster and Welchia worms," said Arthur Wong, vice president of Symantec Security Response. "Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System will provide customers with in-depth analysis on impending attacks coupled with expert recommendations generated by a team of Symantec security experts."

To provide organizations with even more personalized analysis of global security events, Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0 will include an optional Custom Reports Add-on. This custom reporting capability enables organizations to mine the global security event database by time, country and industry, offering more granularity when analyzing a specific security event. Administrators also have the ability to generate detailed reports in over 20 different reporting formats.

"As Internet threats appear with increased speed and in greater numbers each day, it is more important than ever for corporations to be vigilant in monitoring the current threat environment," said Mark Nicollet, research vice president, Gartner. "The integration of current threat information with vulnerability assessment, IT security management and antivirus data will become increasingly important as a means of combating these threats."

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System ThreatCon rating provides a summary measure of the current global threat exposure on the Internet. With version 5.0, customers will now have the ability to publish the Symantec ThreatCon on their own Intranet sites to help communicate the appropriate security posture and increase corporate security awareness.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System is complemented by Symantec DeepSight Alert Services, which provides customized and detailed notification of vulnerabilities and malicious code as they are discovered. Symantec DeepSight Alert Services provides customers with the intelligence needed to mitigate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited and helps protect systems from malicious code before it strikes.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System is supported by Symantec Security Response, the world's leading Internet security content, research and support organization. Symantec Security Response leverages sophisticated threat and early warning systems to help provide customers with comprehensive, global, 24x7 Internet security expertise to proactively guard against today's complex threats.

Availability

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System and the Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System Custom Reports Add-on are scheduled to be available through Symantec's worldwide network of value-added authorized resellers, distributors and systems integrators at the end of September. Organizations can be connected with Symantec resellers or distributors in their areas by visiting the Symantec Solution Provider locator at http://www.symantec.com/partners/partners_frames.html.

About Symantec

Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please view the Symantec Press Center at http://www.symantec.com/PressCenter/ on Symantec's Web site. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are valid only in the United States.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including forecasts of future revenue and earnings per share, expected activities, and other financial and business results that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: the sustainability of recent growth rates, particularly in consumer products; the anticipation of the growth of certain market segments, particularly enterprise security; the positioning of Symantec's products in those segments; the competitive environment in the software industry; general market conditions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, changes to operating systems and product strategy by vendors of operating systems; and whether Symantec can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk Factors sections of Symantec's previously filed Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 28, 2003. Symantec assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release except as otherwise required by law.

Symantec, the Symantec logo, and DeepSight are U.S. registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or is subsidiaries. DeepSight Analyzer, DeepSight Extractor, and Bugtraq are trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other brands and products are trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE: Symantec Corporation

CONTACT:          Symantec Corporation
                  Ellen Hayes, 310-449-8557
                  ehayes@symantec.com
                  or
                  Connect Public Relations
                  Mike Bradshaw, 801-373-7888
                  mikeb@connectpr.com

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SOURCE: Symantec Corporation