Symantec unveils new advanced threat protection

BANGALORE, INDIA: Symantec has announced an entirely new approach to advanced threat protection (ATP), unveiling a roadmap of integrated solutions that demonstrates the security innovation power that only it can deliver to help customers solve their most complex problems.

This approach is fueled by two new offerings, Symantec Managed Security Services -Advanced Threat Protection and Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Solution, which correlate alerts and intelligence across a range of security technologies to deliver more comprehensive attack prevention. Symantec's holistic methodology captures the benefits achieved when security technologies work together, transforming the complex fight against advanced threats into a manageable function that delivers stronger protection and more value to businesses.

Symantec's innovative security technologies and global intelligence already provide strong advanced threat protection, and the company will build on this core heritage to develop defenses that protect as sophisticated attacks evolve. The company's new ATP efforts will be informed by what Symantec has learned about advanced threats though its existing endpoint solutions that protect a base of 200 million endpoints, and from its current email and web security solutions that review over 8.4 billion email messages and 1.7 billion web requests a day.

"There is a significant need in the market for greater advanced threat protection, and many vendors do not have the holistic coverage or full-functionality needed to adequately detect and respond to targeted attacks," said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst, Enterprise Security Group (ESG). "Symantec is well positioned to deliver an end-to-end advanced threat solution by building on the technologies it offers today, integrating across its portfolio, and delivering it as a service enhanced by an evolving partner ecosystem. By leveraging its global intelligence and building-in completely new incident response capabilities, Symantec can really address a multitude of enterprise cybersecurity requirements."

Targeted attacks are rising, cybercriminals are more ruthless than ever, and the multifaceted equation required to protect against these threats has only become more difficult. While the promise of network security-based solutions as the answer to advanced threats gains increasing attention, IT departments are still left grappling with massive amounts of incidents, too many false positives and a laundry list of manual processes to be tackled without the staffing and skill sets needed to win, leaving organizations exposed and vulnerable.

"To successfully defend against the types of targeted attacks we're seeing today, you need to expand the focus from prevention to detection and response," said Brian Dye, senior vice president of Symantec Information Security. "Network security alone isn't going to solve the problem. Adversaries are targeting all control points from the gateway to email to the endpoint. Organizations need security across these control points working together, with incident response capabilities and global information intelligence, to beat the bad guys. Symantec is bringing that powerful arsenal to market."

Managed Service Solves Practical Detection and Response Challenges

Available in June of 2014, the next piece in Symantec's ATP approach is Symantec Managed Security Services -Advanced Threat Protection (MSS-ATP), a managed service that significantly reduces the time it takes to detect, prioritize and respond to security incidents by producing integration between its endpoint security and third-party network security vendors' products. This data enables customers to rapidly and effectively contain, investigate and remediate unknown and zero day attacks that evade traditional security solutions. By prioritizing real threats, IT organizations can reduce false positives and operating costs and ensure that they are protecting against the most significant vulnerabilities.

Symantec's Advanced Threat Protection Alliance is an ecosystem of network security partners that currently includes Check Point Software Technologies, Palo Alto Networks and Sourcefire (now part of Cisco). Through this ecosystem, the detection and correlation of malicious network and endpoint activity helps substantially reduce false alerts by pinpointing the important incidents, empowering customers to respond faster to the most critical incidents.

"The Palo Alto Networks WildFire offering is a proven, highly effective cloud solution for detecting and preventing APTs threatening customer networks today," said Chad Kinzelberg, senior vice president of Business and Corporate Development at Palo Alto Networks. "The integration of WildFire with Symantec's next generation Managed Security Services, Security Intelligence and Endpoint Protection brings a powerful combination to defeat the most advanced cyber threats."