Symantecs New Norton Products Hit the Streets

Symantec has added new shields against malware and Web vulnerabilities in the latest versions of Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus software.

The 2008 versions of the products include a feature called Browser Defender, a behavioral-based technology that defends against drive-by downloads and other threats targeting vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.

"The notion behind the technology was theres thousands of exploits and the exploits change on a daily basis, but theres only a handful of vulnerabilities—for IE theres 39 vulnerabilities," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of consumer products at Symantec.

Symantec CEO John Thompson sees a future in software as a service. Read more here.

Other enhancements include Norton Identity Safe, which is aimed at protecting personal information when a user is buying, banking or browsing online. It enables users to control which information is shared with Web sites, and it fills in passwords automatically to thwart keylogging software, company officials said.

"New identity protection technology keeps confidential information safe, while performance and usability enhancements make security faster and easier than ever," said Ed Kim, director of Symantecs Consumer Group.

Both Norton AntiVirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security 2008 are available for purchase through the Symantec online store as well as at various retail locations. Norton AntiVirus 2008 Small Office Packs for five and 10 users will be available for a suggested retail price of $89.99 and $149.99, respectively.

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