Symantec has announced the latest line of the company’s consumer Internet security products. According to the company, the new software features enhanced levels of protection designed to address the newest and most rampant online threats.
Led by Symantec’s integrated-security and privacy-protection suite, Norton Internet Security 2005, the new line of software includes core protection products — Norton AntiVirus 2005, Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton AntiSpam 2005.
Norton AntiVirus 2005 provides further automatic protection against blended threats like Sasser and Blaster with new Internet worm protection technology. Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton AntiSpam 2005 each offer new features for added defense against fraud and certain types of phishing scams.
Norton Internet Security 2005 integrates Symantec’s three core protection point products, and incorporates parental controls, a Web content filtering solution, along with a new outbreak alert feature.
Protection from Viruses, Worms and Trojans
Norton AntiVirus 2005’s new Internet worm protection is designed to safeguard consumer and home office users from new types of fast-spreading blended Internet worms that attack computer users’ systems through multiple entry points.
Internet Worm Protection blocks inbound online ports to prevent the spread of threats like Sasser and Blaster that propagate through system vulnerabilities not protected by traditional antivirus software. Norton AntiVirus 2005 also is designed to provide automatic scanning and removal of viruses, worms and Trojans without requiring user intervention.
AntiVirus 2005 also includes spyware detection capabilities to defend against programs on the user’s computer that can be employed with malicious intent to compromise the security of a system, spy on the user’s private data or track users’ online behavior.
Defense Against Privacy Thieves
To help protect users from privacy infringements with minimal interruptions, Norton Personal Firewall 2005 includes new privacy controls with a new confidential-information blocking tool. This new feature allows users to send confidential information to Web sites they trust with no interruption, but alerts users when they send personal data to untrusted sites.
Confidential-information blocking is designed to help protect users from falling victim to online phishing — a type of scam that attempts to lure Internet users into providing confidential personal information to harmful and potentially dangerous Web sites — which can result in identity theft.
Because some blended threats are able to attack computer systems in a way that basic firewalls cannot block, Norton Personal Firewall 2005 includes inbound and outbound application-based protection along with intrusion-prevention technology.
Symantec’s intrusion-prevention capabilities, another component of Norton Personal Firewall 2005, provide an additional layer of security by identifying potential attacks in conjunction with the software’s firewall. This added layer of protection allows Norton Personal Firewall 2005 to inspect the actual content of Internet traffic to identify and block attempted online attacks that a basic firewall without intrusion prevention would also not be able to detect.
Comprehensive E-Mail Filtering
As spam continues to proliferate and evolve into more and more of a security threat, Symantec’s newly enhanced Norton AntiSpam 2005 is designed to offer better filtering capabilities over earlier versions of the software.
AntiSpam 2005 also provides additional protection against some forms of e-mail scams by identifying fraudulent URL Internet addresses within e-mail messages and filtering those messages with “spoofed” or faked sender addresses.
Norton AntiSpam 2005 also automatically intercepts and analyzes e-mail in most POP3 connections and identifies spam as it comes into the user’s inbox. Norton AntiSpam 2005 integrates with the latest versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora and now Yahoo Web e-mail, by automatically creating a spam folder and using it to collect all e-mail identified as spam.
Pricing and Availability
Norton AntiVirus 2005 is currently available for pre-order at the Symantec online store for US$49.95. AntiVirus 2005 is scheduled to be available for purchase at various retail locations and other online retailers in late August. Current users of Norton AntiVirus and competitive antivirus products will be able to upgrade to AntiVirus 2005 for $29.95 after $20 mail-in rebate.
Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton AntiSpam 2005 will be available for pre-order in late August at the Symantec online store for $49.95 and $39.95, respectively. Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton AntiSpam 2005 are scheduled to be available for purchase at various retail locations and other online retailers in mid-September.
Current users of Symantec products as well as users of select competitive products will be able to upgrade to Norton Personal Firewall 2005 and Norton AntiSpam 2005 each for an estimated retail price of $29.95 after mail-in rebate.
Norton Internet Security 2005 also will be available for pre-order in late August at the Symantec online store for $69.95 and is scheduled to be available for purchase at various retail locations and other online retailers in mid-September.
Current users of Symantec products as well as users of select competitive products will be able to upgrade to Norton Internet Security 2005 for $39.95 after $30 mail-in rebate. Prices for all Symantec consumer security products include a one-year subscription to Symantec’s protection updates.
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