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Symantec Updates its Web Security Solutions Portfolio

By Hurrairah bin Sohail - on 11 Mar 2013, 5:25pm

Symantec Updates its Web Security Solutions Portfolio

Symantec has unveiled new updates to its Web Security Solutions portfolio with the addition of new capabilities to meet the increasing security needs and performance requirements of today's connected businesses. The WSS strategy focuses on protecting companies, meeting compliance requirements, improving performance and reducing infrastructure costs. The intended end result is to deliver trusted shopping, trusted advertising and trusted applications for businesses and their customers.

The company also announced the first available multi-algorithm SSL certificates with new ECC and DSA options. These offerings will help organizations protect their web ecosystems and strengthen the foundation of trust online. Symantec had began transitioning customers to its RSA 2048-bit SSL certificates last year to keep abreast of new threats. Now the company broadens its SSL portfolio with new security algorithms to address the requirement of increased protection.

ECC Algorithms Faster and Stronger

Using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) Symantec is offering commercially available SSL certificates. ECC is scheduled to be available in Symantec's Managed PKI for SSL to be released in the first half of 2013. ECC advancements deliver the following advantages:

  • Greater security as Symantec ECC will be 10,000 times harder to break than an RSA 2048-bit key based on industry computation methods. Symantec 256-bit ECC certificates offer the equivalent security of a 3072-bit RSA certificate.
  • Improved server performance during peak loads with the ability to process more requests per second with lower CPU utilization, which becomes more important as mobile and tablet adoption place increasing demands on web infrastructure.
  • Improved server-to-desktop performance and response time. Internal testing showed a server with an RSA certificate handled 450 requests per second with an average response time of 150 milliseconds to the desktop clients. The server with an ECC certificate under the same conditions netted an average response of just 75 milliseconds.


Additionally, ECC also delivers higher scalability to handle the demands of online interactions across billions of connected endpoints, enabling organizations to make greater gains in their online information sharing, cloud services and global ecommerce initiatives. For end users, improved computational performance and enhanced infrastructure utilization increase their overall productivity for a more favorable experience.

Joining Symantec in their new ECC ventures are web hosting companies, service providers and browsers such as Akamai, Citrix, F5, Google, HID Global, Juniper Networks, Opera and Red Hat.


Recover Costs and Eliminate Expensive Downtime with Powerful New SSL Management Services

The difficulties and complexities in tracking SSL certificates and staying compliant obviously increase in tandem with the scale and diversity of the enterprise. Unexpected certificate expiration, rogue certificates and misconfigured certificates can result in downtime for critical business systems which adversely affects the bottom line of companies.

To avoid these pitfalls, Symantec has updated its Certificate Intelligence Center cloud service with new management and automation capabilities to manage the certificate lifecycle, from installations, renewals and upgrades to revocation. Other key features include a comprehensive view of a customer’s entire SSL portfolio with integrated monitoring, reporting and rating functions. Automation capability is currently scheduled to be available first half of 2013.

Safe Delivery of Trusted Applications

Symantec Secure App Service delivers an industry first in offering a hosted code-signing service for companies and app stores to secure their third-party or company-owned applications. This new cloud-based service assures users the application they are using is trusted and authenticated and has not been maliciously tampered with. For the app developer, the Secure App Service provides full audit and reporting capabilities to track activity for better control and protection. Available today with a SOAP API for integration within the enterprise environment, Secure App Service is scheduled to be available this summer with a full management GUI.

Website Security Solutions Tackle Increased Malvertising Attacks

The increase in "malvertisements" or malicious ads threatens online businesses and ad networks serving up online ads. Symantec’s AdVantage is the company’s first advertising and media service to protect web businesses and brand reputations. The secure cloud-based service delivers real-time monitoring, notification and detailed forensics of malvertisement incidents. Ad networks and publishers get immediate insights through visual tracing and comprehensive incident reporting to quickly remedy issues and reduce risk in display advertising.

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