Symantec Arms Consumers Against PC Hijackers with Norton AntiBot

CUPERTINO, Calif. – July 17, 2007 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the release of Norton AntiBot, the industry’s first targeted security solution to combat the growing botnet pandemic. Norton AntiBot is a real-time bot detection and removal solution for consumers. Norton AntiBot monitors PC applications and processes around-the-clock, offering an additional layer of protection that complements existing security solutions to protect PCs from unauthorized access and tampering.

Norton AntiBot will be available immediately from the Symantec online store at www.symantecstore.com for an estimated retail price of $29.99USD, which includes a one-year subscription to Symantec’s protection updates.

Symantec Security Response is seeing the number of bot-infected computers continue to rise. In Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report (Volume XI, March 2007) Symantec found that during the last six months of 2006, there were more than 6 million active bots which is approximately 30 percent more zombie computers than observed in the previous six-month period.

“Botnets are quickly becoming one of the most pervasive, dangerous, and aggravating classes of malware,” said Rob Enderle Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. “These networks are increasingly managed by professional criminals using leading technology to steal consumer bandwidth and performance and use it to for tasks ranging from massive amounts of spam to outright identity theft. To mitigate this growing risk all of us should be looking at using defense in depth solutions like Norton AntiBot that include strong protection for these technically advanced bot nets.”

Norton AntiBot’s Proactive Detection and Removal Capabilities is only a complement to existing security solutions (anti virus and firewalls).