Symantec Protects Mobile Devices

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it will offer Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0, a solution designed to provide customers with the same security and data protection capabilities on their Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs as what has become standard for laptops and other computing devices. Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 will include antivirus, firewall, anti-SMS spam, and data encryption technologies that are easy to deploy, manage and maintain. This kind of layered security can not only mitigate the unique security risks of mobile devices, but can also enable companies to more easily and cost-effectively comply with internal security policies and external regulations.

"The global workforce is becoming increasingly mobile - using a wide range of mobile devices to access personal applications and corporate data over insecure public WiFi and home networks," said Sandra Palumbo, senior analyst at the Yankee Group. "The IT departments tasked with managing and protecting these devices are having a tough time wading through the wide spectrum of individual security products to determine what is needed and what is not. The vendor that can unify these technologies, ensure they interoperate and provide a high level of support and manageability will likely find a significant market with corporate IT buyers."

Yankee Group research indicates that the number of enterprise mobile data users will increase to over 269 million by 2010, representing a 19.8 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). With the increasing number of users connecting their mobile devices to company networks, it is no surprise that malware writers and criminals are looking to take advantage of this unprotected path to sensitive data. Research from Symantec's Global Intelligence Network shows that the number of mobile viruses has almost doubled every six months from 2004 to 2006.

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC)