Symantec Protects Users Against VBS.LoveLetter.A

VBS.LoveLetter. A Definitions Immediately Available from Symantec via LiveUpdate and Internet Download

CUPERTINO, Calif. - May 4, 2000 - Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) - today announced availability of the virus definition to detect, repair and protect users against the VBS.LoveLetter.A virus. This definition is available now via Symantec's LiveUpdate and can also be downloaded from the following web sites:

• www.symantecstore.com
• www.digitalriver.com/symantec

"Viruses like VBS.LoveLetter.A that are replicated through Internet applications such as e-mail and chat pose a great threat to companies and individuals because they can rapidly spread through organisations and around the world. To contain this and other self propagated attachments, we encourage corporations and individuals to immediately update their virus definitions and update them regularly to ensure they are protected," said Ron Moritz, Symantec's chief technical officer. "As these types of Internet borne viruses become more common, a multiple line virus defence strategy becomes critical. Corporations and Internet service providers can provide their customers protection at the gateway before the infected e-mail even enters the user's in-box. At the same time, to maximise protection, we recommend users have anti-virus on their desktop to ensure their systems are maintained virus free."

The VBS.LoveLetter.A is an Internet worm that uses Microsoft Outlook to e-mail itself as an attachment. The subject line of the e-mail reads "ILOVEYOU," with the attachment titled "Love-Letter-For-You.TXT.vbs." Once the attachment is opened, the virus replicates and sends an e-mail to all e-mail addresses listed in the address book. The virus also spreads itself via Internet relay chat and infects files on local and remote drives including files with extensions vbs, vbe, js, sje, css, wsh, sct, hta, jpg, jpeg, mp3, mp2. Users should exercise caution when opening e-mails with this subject line, even if the e-mail is from someone they know, as that is how the virus is spread.

Symantec's AntiVirus Research Centre began receiving reports regarding this worm early morning on May 4, 2000 GMT. This worm appears to originate from the Asia Pacific region. Distribution of the virus is widespread and hundreds of thousands of machines are reported infected.

Symantec AntiVirus Research Centre SARC is one of the industry's largest dedicated team of virus experts. With offices located in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, the sun never sets on SARC. The centre's mission is to provide swift, global responses to computer virus threats, proactively research and develop technologies that eliminate such threats, and educate the public on safe computing practices. As new computer viruses appear, SARC develops identification and detection for these viruses, and provides either a repair or delete operation, thus keeping users protected against the latest virus threats.

About Symantec
Symantec, a world leader in Internet security technology, provides content security solutions to enterprise organisations and helps companies manage and support workforces that use computers and other mobile devices.

Symantec's Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver. For more information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec's Canadian web-site at www.symantec.ca. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements. There are certain important factors that could cause Symantec's future development efforts to differ materially from those anticipated by some of the statements made above. Among these are the anticipation of the growth of certain market segments, the positioning of Symantec's products in those segments, the competitive environment in the software industry, new security threats, dependence on other products, changes to operating systems and product strategy by vendors of operating systems, and the importance of new Symantec products. Additional information concerning those and other factors is contained in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 2, 1999.