Take the fight to Cybercrime

Norton delivers the industry’s number-one online threat-detection rating, fastest performance and new, free Norton Power Eraser

With 65 percent of consumers worldwide falling victim to cybercrime , the need to choose the strongest, most comprehensive protection available is more important than ever. Norton from Symantec has released Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security 2011, the only suite to achieve a 100 percent protection score in a new third-party test from Dennis Labs . Advancing the Norton commitment to releasing only the fastest and lightest security products in the fight against cybercrime, the 2011 products have been carefully engineered to exceed already industry-leading performance and protection benchmarks. Norton goes even further by providing a free tool to consumers, Norton Power Eraser, that aggressively targets and eliminates fake antivirus or ‘scareware’ applications.

‘Today’s cybercriminals are not standing down; consumers need the very best protection to stay safe online,’ said Kara Rawden, Senior Marketing Manager Middle East & Africa, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec. ‘The Norton 2011 products are the highest quality we have ever built and the market’s most comprehensive protection with value-added tools for protecting customers from today’s ever-evolving threats.’

Norton does more: protection, performance and free tools

New product features, performance enhancements and free tools mean that Norton does even more than the competition to help prevent users from being victimised by cyber thieves.

Protection

According to new third-party test data from Dennis Labs, Norton placed first in real-world threat-detection tests and was the only vendor to achieve a 100 percent protection score. This is Norton’s second year in a row to secure that distinction.

Notably, Dennis Labs recently had its real-world security-testing methods reviewed by the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation (AMTSO) and received a 100 percent compliance. Additionally, in recent testing conducted by AV-Test.org , Norton 2011 was best of twelve competitive security offerings in both detection and remediation of threats. Norton has also received top scores in detection and remediation in evaluations by the independent security-testing organisation AV-Comparatives .

The following advanced features of the Norton 2011 products help to deliver its unmatched protection:
•    Reputation-based security instantly checks when and where programs originated to identify and stop new malicious programs faster than ever. Norton’s reputation system also allows users to determine if their overall download behaviour is more or less risky than that of today’s 58 million Norton Community Watch members.
•    System Insight 2.0 with new proactive performance alerts monitors all running applications and now alerts users if any program is overusing system resources and slowing them down; users thus know when they can make changes to improve computer performance.
•    Download Insight 2.0 delivers the most aggressive reputation-based protection yet, checking every downloaded file for safety before it is allowed to run.
•    SONAR 3 brings a new level of behavioural security to Norton 2011,  providing true ‘zero-day’ protection against new and emerging threats that are specifically designed to evade other security features. With its improved classification techniques, SONAR 3 identifies suspicious software based on its behaviours and automatically handles any decision making on behalf of the user.
•    Norton Bootable Recovery Tool conveniently allows Norton users to boot a PC into a safe state when a system is so deeply infected with a rootkit or other troublesome malware that installing security software or even properly starting up becomes impossible. New this year, the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool wizard automatically creates a CD/DVD/USB bootable device in a quick and easy way. Learn more about Norton Bootable Recovery Tool and download it here.

Performance

While providing the industry-leading protection of Norton Internet Security 2011, these products are the world’s fastest and lightest security product. According to new third-party testing data from PassMark Software , Norton Internet Security 2011 proved best in a field of well-known security offerings, being first in overall performance among security suites.
•    Norton Internet Security 2011 performs 65% better than the competitive average of PassMark scores
•    Norton Internet Security 2011 scans 61% faster than the competitive average
•    Norton Internet Security 2011 has the fastest installation time of 41 seconds

Additionally, Norton Internet Security 2011 outperformed the competition on everyday PC activities like browsing the Internet and copying files, such as photos or documents, from one location to another. Compared with Norton 2010, the new Norton had 25 percent less effect on browsing the Internet and better than 60 percent less effect on copying files.

Norton offers free tools

Because every infected machine poses a risk to the broader online community, Norton is offering powerful free tools for consumers, regardless of the security they use, to provide all computers with a deeper level of protection. While these tools are available to everyone, Norton customers benefit from the fact that they are already integrated into the 2011 product.

One of these free tools is Norton Power Eraser, which aggressively targets and eliminates the latest threats, including fake antivirus or ‘scareware’ programs. Fake antivirus programs imitate legitimate software and provide a way for cybercriminals to swindle consumers out of huge sums of money. Norton Power Eraser is freely available online and as a link within the 2011 Norton products. Learn more about Norton Power Eraser and download it here.

Additional free tools Norton offers include Norton Safe Web Lite, a downloadable toolbar that identifies risky sites in search resultsbefore users click on them. Facebook users can protect themselves with Norton Safe Web for Facebook, which scans current Facebook news feeds to see if they contain links that are unsafe. Norton also offers a free tool for parents and youngsters – Norton Online Family – which helps youngsters stay safe online while encouraging open communication with their parents about their online activities.

Pricing, availability and compatibility

Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton AntiVirus 2011 are available now for purchase in South Africa and on the Symantec online store here.

The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for Norton Internet Security 2011 is R899 for a three-PC license, which includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates. The suggested retail price of Norton AntiVirus 2011 is R499 for a three-PC license, which includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates.

Norton 2011 products support Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit) Home/Professional/Tablet PC/Media Centre with Service Pack 2 or later, Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) both for Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate editions. Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus 2007 or later users with a valid product subscription are eligible to receive the latest product updates via the subscription service model. For more information, visit the Norton Update centre at http://updatecenter.norton.com.