AUSTRALIA, Sydney – September 8, 2011 – Furthering its Norton Everywhere initiative to protect consumers everywhere they go – across locations, platforms, devices and digital experiences, Norton by Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) today released Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus 2012. The company is delivering on this initiative with mobile and cloud-based technology, including new features in the Norton 2012 products and new beta products and services which will be launched in the coming months with plans to support mobile and tablet devices for both Android and iOS platforms.

Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security 2012 are designed to improve on their already industry-leading benchmarks for protection and performance, while enhancing the overall user experience. Other new Norton offerings will go beyond traditional internet security to provide tablet and mobile device protection, family safety solutions (English only), and the ability to find your lost or stolen laptop or Android device.

“For the past few years we have witnessed an explosion of devices, platforms and applications for consumers to enjoy. However, with these exciting changes come new digital dangers and an even greater need for consumers to be protected from cybercrime,” said Janice Chaffin, group president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec. “As the world leader in security, Norton will continue striving to ensure that our customers are safe wherever they go, whatever digital experience they choose to have.”

Norton 2012 Security Products

Norton 2012 brings key new features to address the latest threats and powerful protection against one of today’s greatest consumer concerns: ensuring online personal information remains confidential. Additionally, Norton brings a powerful combination of reputation, file, behaviour and network based protection to provide the most comprehensive security to date. Key security technologies and usability improvements, include:

Norton Identity Safe in the Cloud[i] – Protects personal and financial information from cybercriminals and keeps users safe from fraudulent websites. New streamlined interface, simplified login experience, and ability to store passwords in the cloud makes accessibility easy from any computer with Norton Internet Security 2012 installed.
Norton Management – New web-based functionality lets users manage their Norton products from anywhere in the world. Users can remotely add Norton products, manage security settings and update subscriptions, making it simple to check on the health of their devices or fix issues without needing to be there in person.
Norton Insight – Norton’s exclusive reputation-based security technology leverages the anonymous software adoption patterns of millions of contributing Symantec users to automatically identify and block never before seen malicious software.
Download Insight – Checks every downloaded file for safety before installation and now provides users with additional data about the predicted stability of the application in their environment based on the stability experiences of millions of other Symantec users.
SONAR – Improved SONAR technology monitors running applications for suspicious behaviour to quickly detect and disable previously unknown threats.

· Norton User Experience – From the streamlined main user interface, Norton 2012 offers quick access to Norton Mobile Security Lite, Norton Cybercrime Index, Norton Online Family and website ratings service Norton Safe Web[ii].

Norton 2012 also continues to set the industry bar for protection and performance. For the second year in a row, Norton placed first in overall protection according to testing from AV-Test Institute. In addition, Norton Internet Security 2012 ranked first in overall performance testing by both PassMark Software and AV-Comparatives. According to Symantec’s internal testing, Norton 2012 even outperforms the award-winning 2011 version with 30 percent faster scans, 17 percent faster boot time and 24 percent faster file copying.

Pricing, Availability and Compatibility

Launch limited edition comes with a bonus 5GB Norton Online Backup, plus a full version of Norton Mobile Security inside the box. (For Android 2.0 or later, 1 year full version, 1 device). Norton Mobile Security can lock, locate or wipe your Android smartphone if you lose it, blocks unwanted calls and texts, warns of dangerous websites, scans apps, SD cards and stops bad downloads to your phone.

Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton AntiVirus 2012 are now available for purchase in Australia through various retailers and the Norton online store. The RRP for Norton Internet Security 2012 is $99.99AUD, which provides one year of protection for up to three PCs, and the RRP for Norton AntiVirus 2012 is $59.99AUD, which provides one year of protection for one PC.

Norton 2012 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.

Links to New Reports:

Norton Cybercrime Report:

http://norton.com/cybercrimereport

AV-Comparatives report:

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/performance/performance_aug_2011.pdf

AV-Test Institute report:

norton.com/avtest2012

PassMark Software report:

http://www.passmark.com/avreport12