Symantec offers Norton 360 to tackle identity theft

Symantec’s recently launched Norton 360 version 2.0, was developed to address the rising rate of identity fraud and other advanced threats that users are exposed to online.

According to Matthew Drake, director Consumer Sales Pacific, Symantec, gone are the days when viruses were created by “pimply-faced kids”. He claimed the culprits of the modern day virus are professional organisations that are growing in strength and sophistication.

“Security isn’t just viruses and worms, we need to get the message out that there are a whole range of security threats that customers don’t know about,” said Drake. “Our focus has been around identity protection. As more people use things like Internet banking, we want to make sure their identity is safe online.”

Demonstrating a desire to inform the channel and consumers of the new security threats facing the IT industry, Symantec recruited Craig Lowndes as a spokesperson. Drake claimed education is a significant focus for the vendor and Lowndes has the ability to reach a wider audience.

“For someone who’s not a security expert but has concerns about security threats, Lowndes has a greater cut-through to get the message out there,” he said. “We’re also working very closely with our distribution partners and key channel partners to educate resellers so they can better protect customers.”

Drake added that Lowndes’s occupation makes him an ideal ambassador for Symantec, drawing on similarities between the racing industry and the security offerings of the vendor.

“There’s also a good synergy when you consider that safety and performance are key to [Lowndes’s] profession,” he said. “We are also concerned about safety and producing a product with minimal impact on a PC, that also protects you while online.”

Directed at home users as well as SMBs, Norton 360 features Browser Protection technology, which claims to defend against drive-by downloads and other new or unknown threats that exploit vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. There are also local backup options including Blu-Ray, iPods, HD-DVD discs, or shared drives; in addition to internal drives, CD/DVD drives, USB drives, mapped network drives or external hard drives.

“We have a range of products to protect a variety of users,” said Drake.