Symantec Education Services promotes safe employee security practices with new corporate awareness programme

Hong Kong -- April 22 2003 - Symantec, the world leader in Internet security, today announced availability of the Symantec Corporate Security Awareness Programme, a comprehensive, measurable training and communications programme designed for organisations to implement over the course of one year to increase employee security awareness.

Symantec brings its depth of expertise in information security best practices to the Symantec Corporate Security Awareness Programme, enabling organisations to improve their security posture by reducing information security risk posed by employees.

Many employees in today's workforce are not aware that they play an important role in their organisation's security. They download programmes from the Internet, open unsolicited e-mail attachments, participate in file-swapping programmes, engage in instant messaging, and neglect to update passwords and anti-virus protection - all activities that could put the network at risk.

"The Symantec Corporate Security Awareness Programme provides a comprehensive set of training and communications resources to help companies meet best practise requirements for employee security awareness training," said David Sykes, North Asia Director of Symantec. "The Programme delivers a complete set of tools to implement a comprehensive, measurable internal communications programme that will ultimately reduce vulnerabilities by creating a more security-conscious workforce."

Global mining group Rio Tinto, will be one of the first companies to begin using the Symantec Corporate Security Awareness Programme, to train over 20,000 of its employees worldwide. The Programme's availability in languages other than English will enable the company to provide an education solution that can be rolled out globally.

The Symantec Corporate Security Awareness Programme provides participating organisations with materials on CD-ROMs that include recommendations for programme implementation, electronic files of printed materials that can be used to internally promote and support the success of the initiative, technology-based security awareness training modules, as well as mechanisms to measure and track the participation and progress of employees. The Programme aims to empower all employees to take an active role in the protection of their organisation's resources.

"Individuals that have not been properly trained on how to effectively identify and deal with Internet threats pose a significant risk to any organisation," said Allan Carey, Programme Manager, Information Security Services, at IDC in the United States. "With its Corporate Security Awareness Programme, Symantec offers organisations the opportunity to convert one of their biggest threats facing information security today into their first line of defence - their own employees."

Part of Symantec Enterprise Security Services, Symantec Education Services provides technical product training, vendor-neutral security education, security certifications, and employee security awareness programmes so enterprises can better protect vital information. These programmes enable organisations to optimise the operation and administration of security systems, effectively address business risks, and reduce security issues with a more conscientious workforce.

Symantec Enterprise Security provides any size organisation with the technology, global response and services necessary to manage its information security. Symantec's comprehensive solution offers best-of-breed products to protect gateways, servers, and clients with firewall security, intrusion detection, vulnerability management, virus protection and virtual private networking (VPN). 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 Web site at http://www.symantec.com.hk/region/hk/enterprise.

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

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