Symantec 2001 Annual Report Download - page 11

symantec 2001__09
“The integration of Symantec’s Security
Response services into our incident handling processes has enhanced both our
malicious code awareness and incident response capabilities. The services offered
have become an integral component of our function and a 24/7 extension of our
Information Security Response Team.”
Derek Alphin,
Vice President Information Security, Bank One
According to the comprehensive 2001 Computer Crime and
Security Survey sponsored by the FBI and the Computer
Security Institute, 85 percent of the companies and agencies
surveyed detected security breaches within a 12-month
period. Of those, 64 percent suffered financial losses. For
the 186 respondents that were willing to quantify the dam-
age, losses totaled over $377 million.
New virus outbreaks and hacker attacks constantly threaten
to disrupt businesses and destroy assets. Symantec Security
Response combines virus fighting, intrusion detection and
vulnerability management capabilities to give our customers
in-depth, round-the-clock emergency coverage. Symantec
is one of the few security companies with the reach and
resources necessary to respond to customers immediately
wherever and whenever they face a security threat. Our
response team receives submissions of suspicious files and
potential threats from a global network of more than 100
million users—both individuals and enterprises. The team
turns one submission from one customer into a proactive
solution for every customer.
Intruder Spotting The Symantec Security Response intru-
sion detection team collects information about current
hacker incidents worldwide, looking for attacks that exploit
vulnerabilities in operating systems, network protocols and
other computing resources. Our test and validation engi-
neers re-create these attacks and vulnerabilities in the
laboratory. They then send out advisories to customers
that detail the nature, impact and severity of the threat,
and offer policies and other instructions on how to thwart
it. This team also provides updates to Symantec intrusion
detection and vulnerability management products designed
to neutralize the threat.
Virus Fighting Symantec maintains a global infrastructure
dedicated to rapid virus response that continually feeds
information to team members in Sydney, Tokyo, Leiden,
Santa Monica and other locations worldwide. When a
new virus submission arrives, Symantec engineers simulta-
neously decrypt and analyze it, alert customers and the
media, and start formulating an antidote. Subscribers to
our Symantec Alerting Service™get real-time, 24/7 alerts,
sometimes in mere minutes, through a variety of channels:
e-mail, phone, fax, pager and mobile messaging. To speed
the process, our automated Digital Immune System™deliv-
ers many virus definitions without human intervention.
Critical Advisories Symantec Security Response delivers
the latest program updates to Symantec products via our
LiveUpdate system. This includes anti-virus updates as
well as enhancements to Enterprise Security Manager,
NetProwler and other solutions. In addition, the response
organization issues time-critical advisories and bulletins
about security risks and vulnerabilities. It also posts web
articles discussing best practices, technical guidelines and
other matters of interest to the security community.
Proactive Defense Customers benefit from our research
into viruses, intrusion methods and other threats. The
results go into our immune system and policy manage-
ment technologies, and important discoveries are also
shared with industry groups. Moreover, Symantec is very
active in various security alerting, research and standards
organizations. It’s all in the interest of helping companies
and individual users proactively defend themselves at
multiple levels, making it too time-consuming and costly
for a hacker to carry out a successful attack against them.