Symantec targets crimeware with Security 2.0

Republican Congress members who have spent much of the past two weeks trying to change the subject from lurid e-mail and IMs could take a page out of Symantec’s playbook.

After all, what was Symantec’s “Security 2.0” announcement last week but a wholehearted effort to change the topic away from its spat with Microsoft and the Vista desktop?

Symantec declared that it wants to focus on the latest and greatest security threats: phishing, identity theft on the consumer side, internal data theft, and compliance.

For consumers, there’s Norton Confidential Online Edition, an anti-phishing, -pharming, and -crimeware product that banks and other e-commerce companies can use with their sites. For enterprises, the company is offering two new products: Symantec Database Security and Symantec Mail Security 8300.

Symantec also plans to embed VIP (VeriSign Identity Protection) Authentication Service into a future version of the Norton Confidential product.

With Accenture, Symantec established Security Transformation Services with 1,000 security professionals to build and implement data security infrastructure and services for business customers.

Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Eric Ogren said it was refreshing to hear Symantec promote an actual vision for how it will protect both consumers and enterprises.