Symantec 2003 Annual Report Download - page 10

8Symantec 2003
Confidence Begins With Knowledge
Knowledge is power. In the realm of Internet security, what you know can
save millions of dollars potentially lost to downtime or recovery from a
cyberattack. As threats propagate with increasing speed, a proactive
defense based on early warning about vulnerabilities or potential threats
is the best way to prevent an attack.
Symantec helps customers master the first vital line of defense:
knowing about the vulnerabilities most likely to be exploited. We track
vulnerabilities in more than 13,000 product versions from 1,600 ven-
dors, delivering customizable and prioritized alerts that give customers
the most relevant information for their environment.
The good news is that many vendors provide patches or fixes for
these vulnerabilities before an exploit for them begins to circulate. But
because it can be difficult to deploy effective programs to roll out the
patches, many customers can’t stay ahead of the vulnerabilities. For
them, Symantec delivers detailed intelligence on real-time security inci-
dents gathered from more than 19,000 sensors in more than 180 coun-
tries. This completely customizable information provides early warning of
impending attacks, along with mitigation strategies to prevent them.
The Slammer worm is a prime example of Symantec’s response to an
attack that spread across the globe in less than 15 minutes, infecting
systems faster than any previous threat. More than six months before the
attack, Symantec notified our customers of the vulnerability that a threat
such as Slammer could exploit. Customers who acted on our initial notifi-
cation were protected against Slammer when it hit.
As the attack spread, Symantec’s sensor network noted unusual
activity and reported it to our customers in an automated alert. This
early warning allowed customers to determine whether the activity posed
a threat to their networks, and to thwart what later became known as the
Slammer worm.