Symantec combines threat intell feeds, consulting
Consultants periodically tweak the Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program, which allows users to remediate threats and vulnerabilities while adhering to compliance requirements.
Symantec has created a real-time risk management suite to help its customers thwart cyberattacks faster and more effectively, company officials announced today.
The Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program combines data from the company’s Global Intelligence Network, which collects information on software vulnerabilities and malicious code activity, with tailored consulting on how to improve organizations’ information technology security, said Ted Donat, a group product manager at Symantec’s Security Consulting Services unit.
Participating organizations can prioritize intelligence, analyze it and map it onto their infrastructure, Donat said. The program allows users to remediate threats and vulnerabilities quickly and effectively while adhering to compliance requirements.
Customers get an organizationwide assessment and individually designed threat-reduction program, he said. They also get live data feeds and implementation and management tools.
Customers’ employees get training on how to use the program, Donat said. Symantec consultants come out on a yearly basis to tweak the program, and customers have the option to have a full-time consultant help them.
Symantec recommends that participating organizations create a threat and vulnerability management officer to coordinate threat response. A chief information officer, chief information security officer or chief security officer could play the role, or a Symantec consultant could fulfill the responsibilities, Donat said.
The program marks Symantec’s first official combination of alerting services and consulting, Donat said. Symantec got the idea after customers who receive alerts and recommendations for fixes asked the company to help implement them, he said.
Symantec has done a similar tag-team approach in an ad hoc way for other customers, Donat said. A state government has used the combination for the past two years, and a large multinational company has used them for the past eight months, he said.