Symantec’s Norton Confidential to Ship Next Week

Symantec’s new Norton Confidential identity-protection software is set to ship on Monday. The product is designed to make Web surfing more secure by thwarting phishing and pharming attacks and disabling “crimeware or malicious applications that are designed to steal your confidential information,” says Bill Rosenkrantz, director of product management with Symantec.

Norton Confidential will warn users when they are visiting suspected phishing sites and will verify that legitimate Web sites are trustworthy by displaying a “Trust Mark” icon on the browser’s toolbar. It also will detect keystroke loggers and prevent password information from being sent to unauthorized Web sites.
Built Into New Norton Security Suite

The product will be of particular interest to people who have already been the targets of identity theft, says Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis with the NPD Group. “If an identity thief captures their personal information while they’re shopping online, or enters their PC because they don’t have a firewall, this limits that type of abuse,” he says. “What it doesn’t protect the customer from is the bank or the university whose server gets compromised.”

A subset of Norton Confidential has been shipping in Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2007 product, and it will be built into the upcoming Norton 360 security suite.

Norton Confidential has a list price of $50 for a one-year subscription, but it is available for purchase from Symantec’s Web site for $35 per year. A shrink-wrapped version of the product will ship in November.

// October 6th, 2006