Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program announced by Symantec Corp.

On June 28, Symantec Corp. announced the Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program. Symantec’s latest offering combines unmatched Symantec Security consulting expertise with Symantec Global threat intelligence and through these measures Symantec hopes to help customers manage their security posture and prevent incidents before they even happen.

“Organizations are facing an increasing amount of security threats today that could impact their environment, jeopardize compliance, and threaten their entire business,” said Jon Oltsik, Enterprise Strategy Group. “IT Managers and administrators need the necessary tools and information to enable them to assess their current security posture and develop a consistent, well thought-out plan and process for responding to ongoing threats. Symantec’s depth and breadth of security expertise and understanding of the entire current threat landscape provide customers with unique offering.”

Symantec said the Threat and Vulnerability Management Program is a very critical component of Symantec Global Services’ broader agenda to help customers address IT risks. Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program leverages Symantec Global Intelligence Network to provide real-time data on vulnerabilities currently being exploited as well as provide customers with specific guidance to proactively protect their IT environment.

Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program is also capable of putting the proper processes and controls in place to help customers meet industry and government regulations. The Program combines a set of consulting best practices and leverages Symantec’s experience in providing incident response services to existing customers as well as in developing threat and vulnerability management frameworks for large multi-national clients.

Greg Hughes, executive vice president, Symantec Global Services and Support, said, “Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program will help customers design a comprehensive strategy to address a vastly changing threat landscape and contribute to reducing their overall IT risk. Through Symantec’s unparalleled intelligence and world class Symantec consultants, this new offering arms customers with proactive ‘next steps’ when threats and vulnerabilities are identified.”

Symantec said than it built Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program around a four-phase network of:

Assessment: Assess the client’s environment to understand better the organization’s existing threat and vulnerability framework; provides a report summarizing the findings; details the organization’s current security posture and its risks compared to industry practices and finally offers recommendations to enhance protection and reduce risks.

Design: Design a Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program Framework customized to meet the customers unique business needs, balanced with the clients budget and risk tolerance.

Implementation: Implement Symantec Threat and Vulnerability Management Program Framework, customized to the customer’s specific needs and existing resources. The underlying technology includes an open-source platform, which combines enhanced notification, a knowledge base of vulnerabilities, malicious code, exploits and fixes, workflow, and a rich reporting engine for meeting compliance goals.

Manage: Prepare a resource to act as Threat and Vulnerability Management Officer (TVMO) and position the organization to respond effectively to this role. The TVMO is responsible for coordinating the threat response across the organization. Symantec can train a client resource to act in this role or provide a Symantec Consultant to act as the TVMO on-site.