Symantec Introduces New Multi-Layered Approach for Combating Enterprise Spam

Symantec Provides Enterprises With Superior Mail Security in a Single Easy-to-Manage Solution

CUPERTINO, Calif. - March 24, 2003 - Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today announced a new mail security solution, Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways 3.1, which introduces multi-layered spam prevention integrated with award-winning virus protection. Enterprises now have a single solution for turning their Internet e-mail gateways into a first line of defense against both the growing onslaught of unsolicited e-mail and the danger of malicious code.

"Symantec has recognized that enterprise networks are subjected to multiple threats -- malicious or otherwise," said Brett Roquemore, senior LAN administrator, Ferguson Enterprises Inc. "Our experience with Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways has shown us that Symantec has provided a valuable all-in-one solution for protecting against Internet threats while reducing spam entering into our enterprise. It really comes down to having the right set of tools that work in a layered approach to maximize detection and minimize network downtime."

According to a recent study by Osterman Research, spam is the number one problem plaguing e-mail systems and administrators today, topping even viruses. Survey respondents expressed dissatisfaction with existing anti-spam products, categorizing them as limited, highly reactive, and unsophisticated.

"Symantec's mail security solution has provided us with a front line solution for managing our virus protection and controlling spam at the entry point to our organization," said Fred Thornton, director information systems, Grande Ronde Hospital. "The intuitive web-based interface makes the solution easy to manage and provides an excellent reporting tool for proactive SMTP management. Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways fits nicely into our tiered defense for virus protection and spam control allowing us to be vigilant in stopping threats before they enter our enterprise."

"Spam grew exponentially in 2002, flooding the Internet with billions of unwanted messages each day," says Greg Gotta, vice president, product delivery at Symantec. "In addition to spam being a nuisance, this deluge is impacting mail storage as well as worker productivity. Symantec's new mail security offering is designed to reduce spam and stop viruses at the earliest point of entry to the network."

Spam Detection Through Blacklists, Whitelists and Heuristics Spammers have been extremely innovative at bypassing spam defenses. As a result, any single technology whether filtering-based, heuristic-based, or signature-based, is simply not enough to address the problem effectively. Multiple layers of spam detection are needed in addition to false positive prevention and management.

Symantec's mail security offering introduces the integration of a number of layers of detection, including a heuristic anti-spam engine and support for multiple third-party real-time blacklists (RBL's), in addition to customized blacklists and whitelists:

Heuristic antispam engine: One filtering layer in Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateway is provided by a heuristic antispam scanning engine, which uses neural-network technology to tag messages when certain thresholds are reached. IT Administrators can adjust the sensitivity of the heuristics engine to strike the desired balance between maximum detection and minimum false positives.

Third-party real-time blacklists that list IP addresses based on known sources of spam are commonly used by administrators and provide another effective layer of defense. There are more than 125 such publicly available real-time blacklist services on the Internet, and administrators can use multiple lists at the same time for maximum coverage.

A custom whitelist feature is another filtering layer that can be used to prevent false positives and remediate problems when a sending mail server has been blacklisted. Administrators populate the whitelists with the domains of customers, partners, and other entities who are the source of desired communication. Whitelisted domains are exempt from scans by both the blacklist and heuristics filtering layers.

Subject-line filtering, a more traditional method of spam detection, is also available. The subject lines of messages that are not detected by the blacklists or the heuristics can be scanned for specific keywords, and wildcard support gives this feature additional flexibility, especially against polymorphic spam, where the subject line is slightly altered for each message sent.

Symantec's mail security solution, Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways, is backed by an industry-leading team of dedicated security experts at Symantec Security Response. With around-the-clock access to up-to-the-minute virus information as well as rapid response and global support, Symantec's mail security solution is a fast and reliable high-performance solution for eliminating e-mail-borne viruses and spam.

Webcast
To learn more about Symantec's mail security solution, an on-demand Webcast "Solutions for Combating Enterprise Spam" is available at: http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/Content/webcastslist.cfm.

Availability
Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways 3.1 with its powerful antispam enhancements is available now. For trialware, or to obtain licensing information or locate a reseller, visit http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com on the World Wide Web.

About Symantec
Symantec, 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 38 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

Symantec’s Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary 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, including anticipated activities and 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; acquisition risks, including the risks that Symantec will not successfully integrate the Riptech and Recourse businesses; new threats or methods of disguising spam; technology and/or personnel; 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 the Company's previously filed Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2002 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002. Symantec assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release except as otherwise required by law.