Symantec 2015 Annual Report Download - page 102

In addition, the onset or continuation of adverse economic conditions may make it more difficult to obtain
financing for our operations, investing activities (including potential acquisitions) or financing activities. Specific
economic trends, such as declines in the demand for PCs, servers, and other computing devices, or softness in
corporate information technology spending, could have an even more direct, and harmful, impact on our
business.
Our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected if we do not effectively manage
our liabilities.
As a result of the sale of our 2.75% senior notes (“2.75% notes due 2015”) and 4.20% senior notes (“4.20%
notes”) in September 2010, and 2.75% senior notes (“2.75 notes due 2017”) and 3.95% senior notes (“3.95%
notes”) in June 2012, we have notes outstanding in an aggregate principal amount of $2.1 billion that mature at
specific dates in calendar years 2015, 2017, 2020, and 2022. In addition, we have entered into a credit facility
with a borrowing capacity of $1 billion. From time to time in the future, we may also incur indebtedness in
addition to the amount available under our credit facility. The maintenance of our debt levels could adversely
affect our flexibility to take advantage of certain corporate opportunities and could adversely affect our financial
condition and results of operations.
We may be required to use all or a substantial portion of our cash balance to repay these notes on maturity unless
we can obtain new financing. There is a risk that we may not be able to refinance existing debt or that the terms
of any refinancing may not be as favorable as the terms of our existing debt. Furthermore, if prevailing interest
rates or other factors at the time of refinancing result in higher interest rates upon refinancing, then the interest
expense relating to that refinanced indebtedness would increase. In addition, changes by any rating agency to our
outlook or credit rating could negatively affect the value of both our debt and equity securities and increase the
interest we pay on outstanding or future debt. These risks could adversely affect our financial condition and
results of operations.
Our software products, SaaS Offerings and website may be subject to intentional disruption that could
adversely impact our reputation and future sales.
Despite our precautions and significant ongoing investments to protect against security risks, data protection
breaches, cyber-attacks and other intentional disruptions of our products and offerings, we expect to be an ongoing
target of attacks specifically designed to impede the performance and availability of our products and offerings and
harm our reputation as a company. Similarly, experienced computer programmers may attempt to penetrate our
network security or the security of our website and misappropriate proprietary information or cause interruptions of
our services. Because the techniques used by such computer programmers to access or sabotage networks change
frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these
techniques. The theft or unauthorized use or publication of our trade secrets and other confidential business
information as a result of such an event could adversely affect our competitive position, reputation, brand and future
sales of our products, and our customers may assert claims against us related to resulting losses of confidential or
proprietary information. Furthermore, our employees or contractors may, either intentionally or unintentionally,
subject us to information security risks and incidents. Our business could be subject to significant disruption, and we
could suffer monetary and other losses and reputational harm, in the event of such incidents.
Some of our products contain “open source” software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or
more of these open source licenses could negatively affect our business.
Certain of our products are distributed with software licensed by its authors or other third parties under so-called
“open source” licenses, which may include, by way of example, the GNU General Public License, GNU Lesser
General Public License, the Mozilla Public License, the BSD License, and the Apache License. Some of these
licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we
create based upon the open source software, and that we license such modifications or derivative works under the
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