Symantec Early Warning System Provides the Most Comprehensive, Multi-Dimensional View of Global Internet Attack Activity Available

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0 to Integrate Virus Submission Data, Include Custom Reports Add-on for Precise Data Mining

SYDNEY --NSW - September 23, 2003 -- Symantec Corp., the world leader in Internet security, today announced Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0, the world's premier global early warning system. Scheduled to be available at the end of September, this early warning security system provides the most comprehensive view of the Internet security landscape. It proactively alerts organisations of active attacks to which they are vulnerable, and offers expert analysis with detailed countermeasures to mitigate risk.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System tracks threats as they develop and gives organisations the accurate, empirical data necessary to make informed and intelligent corporate security decisions. In addition to firewall and intrusion detection data generated by 20,000 partner sites in more than 180 countries, worldwide virus data will now be integrated into the Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System. This data is gathered by Symantec's sophisticated Digital Immune System and represents activity affecting the Internet worldwide, providing a new measure of virus outbreak severity.

"Organisations are increasingly under threat from viruses, hackers and blended threats, with more than 70 new vulnerabilities and 100 new viruses identified each week. Symantec's DeepSight Threat Management System gives organisations access to the targeted intelligence they need to stay a step ahead of Internet threats like the recent Blaster and Welchia worms," said Robert Pregnell, regional product manager Asia Pacific, Symantec. "The new Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0 gives customers an in-depth analysis on impending attacks, as well as expert recommendations from a team of Symantec security experts."

To provide organisations with even more personalised analysis of global security events, Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 5.0 will include an optional Custom Reports Add-on. This custom reporting capability enables organisations to mine the global security event database by time, country and industry, offering more granularity when analysing a specific security event. Administrators also have the ability to generate detailed reports in over 20 different reporting formats.

"As Internet threats appear with increased speed and in greater numbers each day, it is more important than ever for corporations to be vigilant in monitoring the current threat environment," said Mark Nicollet, research vice president, Gartner. "The integration of current threat information with vulnerability assessment, IT security management and antivirus data will become increasingly important as a means of combating these threats."

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System ThreatCon rating provides a summary measure of the current global threat exposure on the Internet. With version 5.0, customers will now have the ability to publish the Symantec ThreatCon on their own Intranet sites to help communicate the appropriate security posture and increase corporate security awareness.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System is complemented by Symantec DeepSight Alert Services, which provides customised and detailed notification of vulnerabilities and malicious code as they are discovered. Symantec DeepSight Alert Services provides customers with the intelligence needed to mitigate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited and helps protect systems from malicious code before it strikes.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System is supported by Symantec Security Response, the world's leading Internet security content, research and support organisation. Symantec Security Response leverages sophisticated threat and early warning systems to help provide customers with comprehensive, global, 24x7 Internet security expertise to proactively guard against today's complex threats.

Availability and Pricing
Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System and the Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System Custom Reports Add-on are scheduled to be available through Symantec's worldwide network of value-added authorised resellers, distributors and systems integrators at the end of September.

In order to accommodate varying customer requirements, the Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System starts at an estimated retail price of AU$23,430.00 and the Symantec DeepSight Alert Services starts at an estimated retail price of AU$7,805.00.

About Symantec
Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.au

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Symantec, the Symantec logo, and DeepSight are US registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or is subsidiaries. DeepSight Analyzer, DeepSight Extractor, and Bugtraq are trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other brands and products are trademarks of their respective holders.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including forecasts of future revenue and earnings per share, expected activities, and other financial and business results that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: the sustainability of recent growth rates, particularly in consumer products; the anticipation of the growth of certain market segments, particularly enterprise security; the positioning of Symantec's products in those segments; the competitive environment in the software industry; general market conditions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, changes to operating systems and product strategy by vendors of operating systems; and whether Symantec can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk Factors sections of Symantec's previously filed Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 28, 2003. Symantec assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release except as otherwise required by law.