Symantec Secures Web-based Access to Corporate E-mail

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced Symantec On-Demand Protection for Outlook Web Access 3.0, providing customers a secured virtual environment to access and manage their Outlook mailbox, calendar and files over the Web. Symantec On-Demand Protection automatically delivers an on-demand agent that helps organizations prevent data loss and enforce corporate security policies without pre-installing software or making permanent changes to remote endpoints.

To maintain a high level of productivity, corporate users often need the ability to access their e-mail accounts from computers that are not owned or managed by the company, such as home computers or Internet kiosks. Corporations cannot assume that outside computers used to access Web-based company e-mail are safe, nor can they trust that end users will not leave behind traces of their behavior and activity. The reality is that utilizing Web-based e-mail such as Microsoft Outlook Web Access can leave corporate information prone to exposure when accessed from non-corporate-owned computers.

“By allowing open Web access to Outlook on unmanaged endpoints, businesses can open themselves to a great deal of risk,” said Brian Foster, senior director, endpoint security, Symantec. “Symantec On-Demand Protection can protect companies and users from potential data loss and block malware while enabling secure, anytime, anywhere access to corporate e-mail.”

The Symantec On-Demand Protection virtual desktop helps prevent confidential data loss through unmanaged computers by creating a secured environment that encrypts data and deletes files once the session is terminated. This reduces the risk of information loss through data that is inadvertently left behind in cache files and temp files.

Host integrity checking ensures that unmanaged endpoints attempting to connect to corporate networks have the appropriate protection and security software installed. Symantec On-Demand Protection performs predefined checks to ensure that antivirus, antispyware, firewall and service pack software is installed and up-to-date.

Symantec On-Demand Protection also includes a behavior-based malware detection engine that blocks threats such as keyloggers and screen scrapers so customers can feel confident that unmanaged machines attempting to access corporate networks are free from malicious code.

Symantec On-Demand Protection provides a secure virtual workspace where the desktop of the endpoint is cloned and separated from the original desktop. The On-Demand Protection agent aims to protect the information and prevent data loss by encrypting any data written to the hard drive. Additionally, customers may enforce policies that prevent users from copying and pasting information, creating screen captures or printing.

In addition, Symantec also announced the availability of Symantec On-Demand Protection for Web Applications 3.0. This separate product provides similar data loss and malware protection for web-based enterprise applications like SSL VPN, Citrix and intranet/extranet corporate web portals within an enterprise.

Licensing and Availability

Symantec On-Demand Protection for Outlook Web Access 3.0 and Symantec On-Demand Protection for Web Applications 3.0 are available through Symantec’s worldwide network of value-added resellers, distributors and systems integrators. Additionally, promotional pricing is available for existing Symantec AntiVirus Enterprise Edition and Symantec Mail Security for Exchange customers for a limited time. For more details, contact your sales representative or reseller. Organizations seeking a reseller or distributor should contact Symantec at http://partnerlocator.symantec.com/public/search.

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in infrastructure software, enabling businesses and consumers to have confidence in a connected world. The company helps customers protect their infrastructure, information and interactions by delivering software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance and performance. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.