Symantec's Enterprise Security Manager 5.5 provides businesses with single-site tools to plan, supervise and monitor network security policies

Hong Kong -- January 7 2002 - Symantec, the world leader in Internet security, today offered IT and security administrators the power to automate the planning, supervision, and monitoring of security policies from a single location with the introduction of Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) 5.5, the latest version of its vulnerability management solution.

With unparalleled scalability and performance, ESM 5.5 works in conjunction with other Symantec Enterprise Security solutions to provide organisations with comprehensive, multi-tier protection against today's blended Internet security threats.

"Since the emergence of the Nimda and CodeRed worms, which combine viruses with known vulnerabilities for multiple infections, many companies have decided to deploy enterprise-wide network security policies. But it has proven costly and time-consuming to manage these policies," said Daniel Cheng, Symantec's Managing Director for Hong Kong and China. "Symantec's Enterprise Security Manager eliminates many obstacles by simplifying the set-up and installation process, and enabling administrators to swiftly assess and address potential weaknesses in their network security infrastructure."

Computer Economics, an IT research firm based in the US, estimated the costs of downtime and subsequent clean-up for the Nimda worm at more than US$531 million as of September 2001. The global cost of the CodeRed worm is estimated at US$2.6 billion.

"Meeting IT security challenges today is 100 per cent dependent on the implementation of security policies," said Mark Bouchard, Program Director Asia Pacific, META Group. "Not only must security policies be established, but they must also be embedded in the computing infrastructure in a manner that automates their enforcement. Furthermore, an ideal security solution would incorporate the capability for continuous assessment, or audit, against those policies."

"I expect continuous policy assessment will be looked on with particular favour by organisations seeking to demonstrate ongoing compliance with the plethora of regulatory/legislative requirements," added Bouchard.

Using Symantec's LiveUpdate, ESM 5.5 users are equipped with a current maintenance agreement that can download the latest security updates and patches from Symantec servers and automatically deploy them to multiple ESM 5.5 managers and agents around the world - all from a single console. Security updates and patches are released on a quarterly basis, or immediately when the need arises. This up-to-the minute information protection insulates organisations from potentially damaging blended threats and other vulnerabilities that jeopardise network and system integrity.

ESM 5.5 also offers functionalities for detailed and customisable reporting. Security administrators can prepare and distribute detailed pre-configured and customisable reports with the integration of Crystal Reports. Users can also create their own queries and reports based on specific network characteristics.

Network security policies are expensive and time-intensive to design. With ESM 5.5, security managers can build and distribute policies to branch offices around the world to ensure the company's parameters are consistent. Conversely, the product also allows previously developed security policies to be imported into the system, and then deployed and installed.

ESM 5.5 supports major relational databases, including Oracle, SQL Server, and Microsoft Access, and collects vital security information and exports it to the selected database. The user can then apply queries to that database to create specific reports for a target application, or the company as a whole.

Monitored via its central console and intuitive graphical user interface, ESM 5.5 performs more than 2,000 different security and vulnerability checks on major operating system platforms, including Window NT/2000/XP, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Red Hat Linux and various other UNIX systems, Novell NetWare, OpenVMS and IBM iSeries (AS/400).

ESM 5.5's host-based configuration utilises an installed "agent" on each system to examine vulnerabilities and compliance to the security policy. A central component, the "manager," instructs the agents to retrieve and analyse security information, which is stored on the manager system and delivered to a "console," where the security administrator can further review security data gathered by the agents. The analysis generated is based on the organisation's security policies, which are easily modified with one or more ESM 5.5 modules. The modules are tailored components that evaluate a variety of operating systems.

A set of Symantec's Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition policies is also available. Users with a current maintenance agreement can obtain the most current updates to these modules via LiveUpdate.

ESM customers can also purchase additional modules to protect mission-critical e-business applications and databases from security vulnerabilities. Current modules include protection for Web servers and Oracle databases.

While a comprehensive security policy is a critical component of an organisation's network security strategy, it must also protect the computing infrastructure from the spectre of hostile intrusions. Symantec's recently-released Intruder Alert (ITA) 3.6, an advanced, host-based intrusion detection system (IDS) application, is specifically designed to work in concert with ESM 5.5 to continuously monitor critical servers for data misuse, unauthorised or malicious access, and security policy abuse.

Availability
ESM 5.5 and other Symantec Enterprise Security offerings are available through Symantec's worldwide network of value-added authorised resellers, distributors and systems integrators. Organisations can connect with Symantec resellers or distributors in their areas by visiting the Symantec Solution Provider locator at http://www.symantec.com/region/hk/purchase/corporate.html

Symantec Enterprise Security
ESM 5.5 is an important component of Symantec Enterprise Security, which provides any size organisation with the technologies, global response, and services necessary to manage its information security requirements. Symantec's comprehensive methodology offers best-of-breed products to protect gateways, servers, and clients with virus protection, firewall security, intrusion detection and vulnerability management. Customers benefit from Symantec's global network of researchers that provide customers with around-the-clock, immediate response to any new security-related attacks. Symantec Enterprise Security customers are also supported by one of the largest professional security organisations in the world, offering security consulting, security education and managed security services. For more information, please visit Symantec's Enterprise Security Web site at http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com.

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 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, California, Symantec has worldwide operations in 37 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com

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