Symantec aims effort at online confidence

Wednesday, 28 March 2007

Rising security fraud is an opportunity for security firm, reports Dave Friedlos. Fostering businesses’ confidence in the internet will be central to turning around software giant Symantec’s flagging growth, says chief executive John Thompson. Research published by the firm last week shows that online security attacks are at an all-time high, with the number of computers infected with malware up 29 per cent in just six months. But such worrying figures are a business opportunity for a company specialising in security, Thompson told Computing. ‘Online fraud and identity theft are the hot topics for both consumers and businesses and our security threat report shows them at record levels,’ said Thompson. ‘But this represents an opportunity to help business users feel more confident and comfortable using the internet.’ Unless security threats are addressed online, the continued growth of business will be damaged, says Thompson. But the biggest challenge is that e-crime is increasingly lucrative and those responsible for attacks are very well-financed. ‘Because of growing organisation and money in these crimes, people are acquiring new technologies for more attacks,’ said Thompson. ‘It is a vicious circle and the problem will be with us for some time.’ Symantec’s ability to rise to the challenge is particularly important in the context of its lower- than-expected growth since its acquisition of storage giant Veritas in a multibillion-dollar deal in 2005. Thompson says the most difficult integration work is now complete, leaving the newly-enlarged firm free to concentrate on its core business. ‘The vast majority of heavy lifting to bring the companies together has been done and the next step is to deliver on the products we forecast,’ he said. ‘It has been very challenging, but we were doing something that had never been done before – we took a £2.6bn company with 6,800 staff and a £2.1bn company with 7,300 staff and smashed them together – but I am convinced it is the right thing strategically.’ He believes that recent frenzied consolidation is a sign of the software sector growing up. Despite the complexities of the Veritas merger, Symantec has retained its appetite for acquisition and is in the process of buying Altiris, a PC lifecycle management firm. ‘The industry is going through a phase of slowing growth and companies are consolidating – which is a sign of its maturity,’ said Thompson. Symantec’s recent financial results have been disappointing because it was doing so well before the merger, says Ovum analyst Graham Titterington. ‘The merger still makes sense in the long term because Symantec’s growth was unsustainable,’ said Titterington. Source: Computing

 

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