Symantec Secures District of Columbia Public Schools; Deployment Includes Vulnerability Assessment, Security Policy Formation and Symantec AntiVirus

Business Wire, Nov 12, 2002

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2002

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today announced that it will work with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to identify vulnerabilities across its network, establish agency-wide information security policies and deploy Symantec AntiVirus at all tiers of the 11,000-seat network.

Education authorities face growing challenges in protecting their networks from malicious threats and unauthorized use. This deployment permits DCPS faculty, staff and students to utilize technology in offices and classrooms knowing that they have advanced protection against viruses and worms that can compromise privacy, destroy critical data or co-opt computers in a coordinated cyber attack.

As Washington, D.C.'s public education agency, DCPS provides a wide range of student and community services, including the management of IT assets at more than 160 separate elementary, middle, junior and senior high schools and support facilities.

"More than ever, academic administrators are demanding security safeguards to protect their indispensable technology assets," said Vincent Steckler, vice president, public sector at Symantec. "DCPS recognizes the ongoing, horizontal nature of security across an enterprise by deploying the best technologies available to meet known vulnerabilities in conjunction with effective security policies."

"Symantec's support of our overall security strategy keeps us advised of the latest network threats while simplifying and centralizing critical management duties for our IT staff," said Charles Thompson, chief technology officer for DCPS. "We find the partnership with Symantec to be the solution of choice for protecting all informational assets that are part of the instructional effort and fabric."

Symantec consultants will use Symantec Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) to deliver a comprehensive vulnerability assessment for the DCPS network.

Symantec ESM, an industry-leading policy compliance and vulnerability management solution, automates the discovery of security vulnerabilities and deviations of security policies in critical applications and servers across the enterprise from a single location.

It allows IT administrators to create a pre-defined security baseline for every system on the network and measure performance against that baseline.

Symantec AntiVirus Enterprise Edition is a multi-tiered solution that delivers enterprise-strength protection at the gateway, network server and workstation. The product suite provides Symantec's industry-leading, high-performance antivirus technologies as a single, comprehensive solution.

It combines award-winning technologies and Symantec's global response infrastructure to provide superior protection at every network tier.

Symantec's antivirus and vulnerability management solutions are key elements of Symantec Enterprise Security, which provides any size organization with the technology, global response and services necessary to manage its information security.

Symantec's comprehensive solutions offer best-of-breed products to protect gateways, servers, and clients with firewall security, virtual private networking (VPN), intrusion detection, vulnerability management and virus protection.

Customers benefit from Symantec's global network of researchers that provide customers with around-the-clock, immediate response to any new security-related attacks. Symantec Enterprise Security customers are also supported by one of the largest professional security organizations in the world, offering security consulting, security education and managed security services.

For more information, please visit Symantec's enterprise Web site at http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com.

About Symantec

Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers.

The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world.

Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 38 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

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