RSA: Symantec talks up 'context aware' security

Symantec's chief executive has delivered an update on the next version of the company's Endpoint Protection security software and the factors driving its development.

Enrique Salem said at the 2011 RSA Conference in San Francisco that Endpoint Protection 12, currently in beta, uses a reputation-based system to help guard against malware threats.

Salem explained that the system uses information gathered from 175 million end users to help create a 'score' rating to warn of potentially dangerous files.

The update addresses what Symantec sees as new trends in malware dispersal and behaviour. The firm has found that 75 per cent of the malware samples it collects infect fewer than 50 users.

Salem also touched on new trends in enterprise IT, including consumerisation and the growing popularity of mobile platforms.

"Information is being accessed from planes, automobiles, bars and beaches," he said. "We have to come up with a way to manage and protect the people and devices regardless of the device and the location."

Salem pointed to Stuxnet as a sign of the future, suggesting that the industrial espionage malware may signal a shift in the malware development approach.

"It was very sophisticated, it was elaborate and it was meant to destroy," he said. "When you look back on Stuxnet it will be remembered as the malware that changed the game from espionage to destruction."