Symantec reveals the latest updates and direction for their Norton security products
Sydney Australia, July 27, 2010 – Performance and Protection are still the main focus of Norton Internet Security products as Symantec keep one step ahead of the cyber criminals. As the threat landscape continues to move away from traditional threats, Norton continues with their reputation based technology as their database of safe files continues to grow. Reputation based technology involves standalone, heuristic and behavioural reputation as it uses the Norton Community to flag safe files among their. According to Symantec, they block around 65,000 a day and as more people join this community, their reputation based technology will only improve. For downloading, no matter what program you use to download files, this provides safer downloads whether it’s P2P, Mozilla or E-mails for example.
Webpage pop-up to install Malware
In terms of protection, Norton continue to rank #1 and in 2009, they were the only internet security software company to prevent all threats, according to the comprehensive testing done by Dennis Labs, an independent testing company. Two of the main threats to internet users include Search Engine Optimisation Poisoning and polymorphic malware. For example, Search Engine Optimisation Poisoning is circumventing the controls of search engines to push up the rank of “fake” websites.
Dennis Labs 2009 Report
Through keyword stuffing and the creation of bogus websites, this forces their rank to appear in the top pages of a search engine, such as Google. If a user clicks on this webpage, it may load malware on the system such as fake anti-virus programs. These fake anti-virus programs will then inform the user they have a security threat and that only their program can remove it. Some less than savvy computer users then pay this company to remove the “threat”. Thanks to the technology of Norton products, it can detect these fake sites and polymorphic malware (e.g. Fake internet security pop-ups) and prevent the user from getting duped.
Users who don’t use any internet security products are also adding to the problem whether through bot nets or spreading the malicious software. This is where Symantec have changed tact a little by offering these users some impressive free downloads. Norton SafeWeb Lite (http://safeweb.norton.com/) is one of these products and allows user to check whether a site is fake or if it is a real site that has been infected. This program will inform the user the following simple messages that include Warning, Caution, Safe or Untested in order for them to make an informed decision. This utility is also available for FaceBook (http://apps.facebook.com/nortonsafeweb/) and scans the links on your wall and links from friends to ensure that the sites are safe. It’s definitely a great tool to alert your friend’s network.
The new Facebook App
Another free tool is Norton Power Eraser that removes deeply embedded and difficult to remove crimeware from PC’s. I tested this on a colleagues PC who was infected by a fake anti-virus program. Unfortunately they were not protected but thankfully Norton Power Eraser removed this malware with no issue whatsoever. Although not a free tool, Norton Rescue Me which comes with Norton Internet Security allows the user to create a bootable device (e.g. USB or DVD) and to recover a badly infected computer. Thanks to the WIN PE O/S, this recovery tool is quite small and can be used by everyone due to the simplistic wizards. The last free tool from Norton is Norton Online family which assists parents with children to safely access the internet. As opposed to blockers or keyloggers, Norton Online Family is to be used with the child’s knowledge and is to open up healthy debate.
The new interface – Including the Protection Map
The interface of Norton Internet Security has been slightly revamped and once again, no comprise has been made to installation, speed or performance. There is an interesting new feature called the Protection Map which highlights the number of threats from various cities across the world which can even be limited to your part of the world. At the bottom of the map is a ticker system that displays the city name and the number of threats. This new feature is made possible thanks to GEO-IP which log suburbs and mobile towers from the ISP.
The new Reputation Scan
The Norton products have also integrated other Norton family products into a central console such as Online Family, Online Backup and SafeWeb. The “Know before you go” feature is great for entering the URL of a new web site in order to determine whether an unfamiliar website is safe or not. Symantec have also added a new reputation area of files on your computer which displays the trust level, age and prevalence according to the Norton Community which is a useful scan to both tech heads and novices. Thankfully, the interface is still as simplistic as ever and Norton have carefully balanced the accessible to all users, still allowing advanced users to tweak certain settings.
The new Performance Alerting
However my favourite feature of 2011 from Norton is the performance alerting feature. Often Norton gets a bad rap for being responsible for slowing down systems, however with the performance alerting monitor, it will display what process is slowing your PC. Although a little “techy” for some users, it has some great customisation options such as optimizers, reports and alerting features.
Once again Norton continues to be one step ahead of its competitors and we’re eager to test out their 2011 line of products. BETA testing has already commenced so end-users should be expecting these products to land on our shelves very soon. Definitely keep an eye out for them!