Symantec smokes out threats with Hamlet

The code will include integrated functions from recent Symantec purchases, including Sybase, Veritas and WholeSecurity.

It uses a single management box to co-ordinate anti-malware, network access controls and improved heuristics to beef up the existing signature-based security code.

"There has been a massive increase in zero day attacks," said Mathew Lodge, Symantec's EMEA director of product marketing.

"The challenge is how to detect against these. With some heuristics you get a lot of false positives that make some systems more problems than they are worth. "

The heuristic element has been integrated from WholeSecurity, and should help protect against zero-day attacks. It also cross checks against signature files of legitimate software to cut the false positive rate.

Code from Sybase has been added to lock down systems against the use of USB sticks and portable media players.

Lodge said that a similar system had been installed at Renault's Formula One factory after the company was concerned that vital engineering data was being stolen.

Veritas' anti-rootkit software has also been included and Symantec hope this will make the detection of rootkits much more effective.

The code searches for rootkits independently rather than through the Windows operating system, a design which Lodge said had had a 100 percent success rate during testing.

Copyright ©v3.co.uk

outsecuritysymantecthreatswith