Symantec adds antivirus to early warning system

Changes to Symantec Corp.'s DeepSight Threat Management System announced Monday will add data on computer viruses and worms to an Internet early warning system, providing enterprise customers with the ability to track the outbreaks on the Internet, Symantec said.

Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System Version 5.0 will integrate antivirus submissions to the Symantec Digital Immune System, a move that may help companies get a more comprehensive picture of Internet security worldwide while giving administrators a jump on outbreaks such as the recent W32.Blaster worm in August, Symantec said.

The DeepSight Threat Management System compiles data from a network of 20,000 Symantec partner sites worldwide. Originally a collector of data from IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems), DeepSight has been slowly expanding to cover different types of Internet threats.

In February, Symantec launched Version 4 of DeepSight, adding data from firewall systems to the network. 

With version 5.0, the network has begun collecting data from more than 100 million Symantec antivirus systems around the world, the company said.

That should help administrators sort through more than 70 product vulnerabilities and 100 new viruses that are identified each week, focusing resources on addressing the few serious threats, Symantec said.

DeepSight is sold as an annual subscription service. Customers can also subscribe to an optional DeepSight Alert Service that provides early warning of network attacks by sending alerts to customers using e-mail, fax, voice call or SMS (Short Message Service).

DeepSight Version 5.0 also offers an optional Custom Reports feature for combing the DeepSight security database, as well as a feature that enables companies publish Symantec's dynamic DeepSight ThreatCon rating on corporate intranets.

The updated version of Symantec DeepSight Threat management System and the new Custom Reports Add-on are available immediately through Symantec's network of resellers, distributors and systems integrators, the company said.