Symantec's Free Web-Hosted Security Check Analyzes Computer Vulnerabilities For More Than 2 Million PC Users

Results Show Nearly 40% Of Users Are Vulnerable to Hackers and Nearly Half Are Not Yet Protected By Anti-virus Programs

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Jan. 16, 2001 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that Symantec Security Check™ has analyzed the levels of Hacker Protection, Privacy Protection and Virus Protection for more than 2.2 million PCs, since this free web-based tool was first launched in March 2000. More than 220,000 of those unique users have submitted their results for an ongoing comparative survey which shows that a large portion of participants are vulnerable to hackers, only half use leading anti-virus protection and a surprising 82% are open to a common privacy leak.

"As Internet use grows exponentially, so does the need for consumers to protect their computers and their privacy against viruses, information theft, and hackers." said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of consumer products, Symantec Corporation. "Using the market-leading technology created for Norton Internet Security™, Symantec Security Check provides PC and Mac users with a free web-hosted tool to identify system vulnerabilities that could otherwise put personal information at risk or even allow the computer to be compromised by malicious code."

Hacker Protection
Nearly 40% of survey participants have open ports that could be exploited by hackers. Hackers commonly use automated scanning tools to find vulnerable computers across the Internet. Symantec Security Check runs a series of tests to assess vulnerability to this common hacking activity and provides a detailed report to the user of any potential vulnerabilities discovered.

Broadband users are particularly vulnerable because of their "always on" connection. A recent, separate survey of firewall logs from Norton Internet Security users demonstrated that each of the participants had experienced an attempted port scan during a one week period anywhere from 12 to 4300 times. In each case, the participants were using a firewall to protect themselves from hackers investigating for an open port.

Additionally, more than one third of participating Symantec Security Check users report that their computer was releasing sensitive information which could be used by hackers. Information such as the computer name and network user name can be obtained by hackers as part of probing activities or as a means to uniquely identify a computer. Users are often unaware that this information can be obtained from their computers. This particular vulnerability is easily remedied with free instruction on the Symantec Security Check website.

Privacy Protection
Privacy is a key area of vulnerability and can be compromised through the tracking of an individual's Internet surfing habits. Symantec Security Check found that 82% of those who submitted their results had a web browser that would release information about the site the person last visited. This is a common problem, yet most PC users are unaware that their computer likely has a default setting that allows their surfing habits to be tracked via the Internet.

Virus Protection
Symantec Security Check showed that only 52% of participants have a leading anti-virus program running and of those people 24% did not have current virus definitions.

Symantec Security Check also includes a Virus Check tool which scans all of the files on a user's computer for current viruses and Trojan horses. To date, Symantec Security Check has found that of the 140,000 PCs that have submitted their results for comparison, 29% were infected a virus and/or a Trojan horse.

Symantec Internet Security Website
In addition to the Symantec Security Check, Symantec provides an Internet Security Web at www.symantec.com/SecurityCheck for users to obtain valuable information about how to best protect their PC from Internet threats, learn about the risks of using the Internet and access Symantec Security Check tools.

About Symantec
Symantec, a world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security solutions to individuals and enterprises. The company is a leading provider of virus protection, vulnerability assessment, intrusion prevention, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products leads the market in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.symantec.com.

Symantec's Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. For more information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec's Canadian Web site at www.symantec.ca. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

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AXENT, AXENT Technologies, the AXENT logo, Enterprise Security Manager, trust level management, and Lifecycle Security are trademarks or registered trademarks, in the United States and certain other countries, of AXENT Technologies, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Symantec is a registered trademark of Symantec Corporation.