Next Generation of Security Alerting

Symantec’s Renovated ThreatCon System Ushers in Next Generation of Security Alerting

Dramatic makeover of global security alerting system allows users to graphically explore today’s complex attacks, from zero-day exploits to online fraud

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the launch of its newly renovated ThreatCon global security alerting system. ThreatCon is an interactive, at-a-glance tool that alerts users to the current state of global internet security. A free service, ThreatCon provides users with faster, more actionable information for protecting against a wider range of vulnerabilities, threats and attacks. The renovated ThreatCon introduces an extensive set of new features to give users a clearer view into past and current threat activity to quickly identify threats of personal interest and drill down to get critical details.

“The internet threat landscape is now characterised by highly sophisticated, multi-stage threats aimed primarily at financial gain,” said Arthur Wong, senior vice president, Symantec Security Response and Managed Services. “In such an environment, it is imperative that users are delivered relevant information as rapidly as possible and in a robust format that provides a broad perspective. ThreatCon now goes beyond malware and vulnerabilities to give users the real-time information they need to maintain a strong security posture in today’s online world.”

The new ThreatCon ties in content from many areas of Symantec, including the Symantec Security Response blog and DeepSight Threat Management System, as well as from industry sources. Unlike traditional offerings that are either malware or spam-centric and provide only a map of current activity, ThreatCon enables users to dig deep to explore complex attacks and keep an eye on a continuously updated threat watch list to stay informed about potential future attacks.

ThreatCon now provides insight into phishing activity, spyware and adware, spam, malicious attacks and vulnerabilities, including non-Microsoft vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits. A variety of options are available to enable the user to explore the entire threat environment, interact with the new Attack Explorer tool, and view Symantec’s Threat Watch. ThreatCon provides a continuously updated map of global events over the last 24 hours, along with associated statistics, enabling users to see activity and events as they unfold.

The Attack Explorer offers a birds-eye view of specific attacks for users who want to drill down for additional details, offering a hierarchy of events associated with the selected attack with further information available for each event. Also provided is a call-to-action so users can quickly understand what to do to mitigate their risk.

Users can navigate to relevant Threat Watch categories—which include fraud, malware, vulnerabilities and security risks—to observe the status of the threats that most interest them. As Symantec Security Response monitors these threats, the individual threat status windows are updated to keep users apprised of the latest developments in internet threat activity.

For greater context at a glance, a ThreatCon History tool is provided that displays the history of the ThreatCon over the past 30 days, illustrating any major changes in the global threat environment. A decrease in the ThreatCon indicates a less severe risk level than before, while an increase signals greater overall risk in the threat landscape.

For additional clarity, the ThreatCon rating system security risks levels are easily distinguishable by risk level color, while malware threats are quickly recognisable by threat level number.

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