Symantec Introduces New Firewall and VPN Solution Offering Scalable Centralized Management and Flexible Licensing.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2004

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), the global leader in information security, today announced Symantec Enterprise Firewall 8.0 for the Windows and Solaris platforms. Symantec Enterprise Firewall 8.0 provides proactive, enterprise-class network and application-level protection designed to protect against various types of malicious threats, including today's blended Internet threats such as Blaster, Slammer and Sobig.

Symantec Enterprise Firewall 8.0 now offers centralized policy configuration management through the Symantec Advanced Manager for Security Gateways add-on. Symantec's Advanced Manager provides secure, centralized, Web-based management of hundreds or thousands of security gateways. In addition, centralized logging, alerting and reporting is available with the Symantec Event Manager for Security Gateways add-on. Symantec Enterprise Firewall 8.0 can also be managed individually with the included secure, Web-based Symantec Gateway Management Interface.

"As the number of application-level Internet attacks continues to rise, customers require more advanced firewall technologies that provide deep packet inspection at the application layer to effectively guard their networks from attack," said Greg Gotta, vice president, gateway and network security, Symantec Corp. "By integrating full application inspection, application-layer proxies, stateful inspection and packet filtering into a unique hybrid architecture, Symantec Enterprise Firewall helps ensure that the information entering and exiting the corporate network is thoroughly inspected at all levels."

Complex Internet threats may require firewall technologies to be more sophisticated than those offered by traditional stateful inspection firewalls. Recognized for its ability to protect against blended threats, Symantec Enterprise Firewall provides advanced full-inspection engines and automated system hardening to provide corporate networks with proactive protection from these types of attacks. This full inspection firewall scales to speeds in excess of 1.5 Gbps depending upon system configuration, to provide optimal throughput and performance for customers with T1 to Gigabit Ethernet connections.

Symantec Enterprise Firewall minimizes vulnerabilities and delivers full-featured security, ensuring complete control of information entering and leaving the enterprise by combining the following network security functions:

-- Full Inspection Firewall -- Full inspection firewall provides

deep packet inspection, application proxy technology and

automated system hardening to protect corporate networks from

Internet attacks.

-- Web-Based GUI -- Symantec Gateway Management Interface (SGMI)

enables administrators to easily deploy and configure local

and remote security gateways from Web-enabled systems.

-- Centralized Management and Reporting -- Advanced Manager and

Event Manager add-ons are available to provide centralized

policy configuration management, logging, reporting and

alerting.

-- State-Sharing Integrated High Availability/Load Balancing

(HA/LB) -- HA/LB extends the security gateway's scalability

and reduces network downtime. Firewall and VPN sessions will

failover automatically to another machine, preserving state.

-- IPSec Compliant VPN -- The integrated gateway-to-gateway and

remote client-to-gateway VPN components enable flexible remote

access while providing additional security through its

integrated proxy secured VPN technology that ensures

administrators can monitor traffic at the application level,

not just at the network level.

-- Automated Content Updates -- Symantec's patented LiveUpdate

technology automatically downloads new URL lists and VPN

client updates, improving security while easing the

administrative workload.

Symantec Security Response

Symantec Enterprise Firewall customers benefit from Symantec Security Response -- receiving the latest security updates and information available. Symantec Security Response is a team of dedicated intrusion experts, security engineers, virus hunters, threat analysts, and global technical support teams that work in tandem to provide extensive coverage for enterprise businesses and consumers. Symantec Security Response also leverages sophisticated threat and early warning systems to provide customers with comprehensive, global, 24x7 Internet security expertise to proactively guard against today's blended Internet threats.

Licensing and Availability

The flexible licensing for Symantec Enterprise Firewall enables customers to purchase the license size and complement of security functions that best meet their corporate needs. Customers will receive up to one year of telephone support, upgrade insurance and content updates included with the licenses.

Symantec Enterprise Firewall 8.0 is available through Symantec's worldwide network of value-added resellers, distributors and systems integrators. Organizations seeking a reseller or distributor should contact Symantec at https://partnernet.symantec.com/internet/locator/Locator01.asp.

About Symantec

Symantec is the global leader in information security providing a broad range of software, appliances and services designed to help individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises secure and manage their IT infrastructure. Symantec's Norton brand of products is the worldwide leader in consumer security and problem-solving solutions. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 35 countries. More information is available at http://www.symantec.com.

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