Symantec Updates Enterprise Security Alert Service

Symantec on Thursday updated its DeepSight Alert Services, an early-warning service that delivers security intelligence information to enterprises, to include XML-based alerts and improved reporting.

DeepSight Alert Services 6.0 now offers the option of XML-format alerts, said Symantec, so that organizations can integrate their content with other security processes, such as using the existing IT system to initiate an action, distribute a remediation list to employees, and track patching. By using XML-based alerts -- which are delivered as e-mail attachments -- Symantec also hopes to make it easier for its customers to re-purpose the content to, for instance, their intranet.

The update also sports enhanced administrator privileges to make it easier to roll out alerts from a central control point to the specific workers who need to see them. And a beefed-up reporting feature now tracks every version of past alerts to make it possible to analyze the company's response to the warnings.

DeepSight Alert Services is part of Symantec's one-two offering that also includes DeepSight Threat Management System, a global network of sensors that tracks security events and provides real-time warning of exploits and vulnerabilities as they develop.

DeepSight Alert Services 6.0 is available now.