A Market Watch article describes Symantec as "provide[r of] ... industry-leading information security solutions, services and support to 99% of 2007 Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 Corporations."
The article is more focused on the Democratic National Party's choice of security software and barely made it to the dark edges of my news radar, but this statement caught my eye. In today's competitive market companies must take time to carefully toot their horns as they grab for market share, but this statement tweaked my inner sense of political correctness. It wasn't until I read it a couple of more times that I understood.
It reads as if 99% of the companies listed on the 2007 Fortune 500 and 1000 exclusively reach for Symantec products when they have information security needs. Which is a wild aspiration to say the least.
Having been an information security analyst for the better part of a decade and in information technology for over 15 years I would beg to differ. While we do use Symantec products for a narrow band of limited uses we've found them to be bloatware expanding at a rate proportional to the number of viruses and trojans released into the wild. However, there is hope on the horizon for the Ivy-league Software junior cadet. I've heard from at least one reputable source that Symantec is rewriting their cash cow Antivirus to be more optimized and work so vastly different that it will be barely noticeable.
The honest opinion of this humble security analyst is this: I reach for many tools in my profession to get the job done, the least of which has Symantec on the label - but it is present in the toolbox. Whether it stays in the toolbox... time will tell...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
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