Symantec Offers Early Look At World's First Anti-Virus Technology Residing Directly On the Palm OS Platform

New Palm OS Anti-Virus Technology Available for Download From Symantec Website

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), a world leader in Internet security technology, today announced the release of public beta for the world's first anti-virus technology for the Palm OS platform that scans applications locally on the Palm device. This new security technology can be downloaded at Symantec's website

(http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/palmscanner.html) and is designed to safeguard critical data on the Palm OS against potential attacks by computer viruses, worms or Trojan horses.

"As the use of handheld devices increase for conducting both personal and corporate business, so does the potential risk for new security threats. Palm.Liberty.A -- the first known Trojan horse for the Palm OS -- demonstrated that handheld devices are susceptible to malicious attacks like other mainstream computing platforms," said Ron Moritz, Symantec's chief technical officer. "With this new technology, Symantec is extending its industry-leading virus protection to the growing population of Palm device users."

How the Anti-Virus Technology Works With the Palm

This preview solution scans Palm applications locally on the Palm device, providing end point protection against viruses and other malicious threats. The scanning engine of this solution examines all applications in the Palm and checks for the presence of a virus. Upon detection, it will prompt the user to remove the virus. In addition, this solution has the ability to automatically update virus definitions via LiveUpdate each time a user HotSyncs their Palm device, so customers can easily scan for, download and install any new virus definitions during synchronization. Symantec's anti-virus technology uses an optimized "micro-engine" to enable researchers at the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC) to detect known and potential threats on the Palm OS platform.

All application files are included in a single installer. Upon installation, LiveUpdate registers "Symantec AntiVirus for Palm" as a LiveUpdate client, then installs the Palm scanner technology and the virus definitions so they are transferred during the next HotSync.

This new security technology incorporates Symantec's award-winning anti-virus engine, which has been re-engineered to run efficiently on handheld devices. Symantec's multitier antivirus strategy is designed to ensure maximum antivirus protection, by providing customers with automatic protection against viruses and other malicious code at all potential entry points. This ensures that the customer's data is protected between synchronizations, which is important when users transfer applications through the infrared port or download files through a wireless Internet connection.

Symantec AntiVirus Research Center

SARC is one of the industry's largest dedicated team of virus experts. With offices located in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, the sun never sets on SARC. The center's mission is to provide swift, global responses to computer virus threats, proactively research and develop technologies that eliminate such threats, and educate the public on safe computing practices. As new computer viruses appear SARC develops identification and detection for these viruses, and provides either a repair or delete operation, thus keeping users protected against the latest virus threats.


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