As we previously reported, the new Norton antivirus has a feature called Internet Worm Protection, which is designed to block network-borne worms, like Blaster, that typical file-based antivirus does not usually stop.
The firm is also incorporating some zero-day threat protection, sometimes found in enterprise firewalls, to the Norton Personal Firewall, by delivering signatures based on the vulnerability, rather than a specific exploit.
The company will today announce Norton AntiVirus 2005, Personal Firewall 2005 and AntiSpam 2005, as well as the Norton Internet Security 2005 bundle, which combines all three, and a new licensing scheme for home networks.
The suite uses a subset of Norton Personal Firewall technology, said Symantec group product manager Kraig Lane. It does not include the outgoing program control parts of the firewall, just the incoming pattern-blocking bits.
The antispam software, which is set to be improved in future using technology that came with the recent Symantec acquisition of Brightmail, has had its Bayesian filters trained to identify phishing attacks as well as typical spam, Lane said.
The Norton Internet Security software has a peace of mind feature, Outbreak Alert, which takes information on new threats, checks them against the security state of the installed Symantec products, and pops up an alert if remediation is necessary.
Lane said the user interfaces have been revamped and simplified to reflect that most users only open their security software a few times a year. The install process is also quicker, with an option to quick scan memory and the registry rather than the whole disc.
The pricing is unchanged from the 2004 line. The individual packages cost $49.95. NIS costs $69.95. There is also a new three-user license package, the Home Protection Pack, aimed at homes with multiple computers, which will be priced at $119.95.
