Symantec releases security tools

CUPERTINO, CALIF. - Symantec this week will announce two software packages intended to prevent security breaches.

Vulnerability Assessment 1.0 is a host-based scanning tool that resides on servers and desktops. It continuously checks software for vulnerabilities so it can be patched or protected by temporarily blocking ports. Costing $795 per server and $150 per workstation, Vulnerability Assessment competes against products such as Internet Security Systems (ISS) Scanner and Nessus freeware.

Symantec Incident Manager 2.0 is incident-tracking software that runs on Windows 2000 with information stored in a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol directory to access alert-data sent by security devices. Supported devices include Cisco and ISS intrusion-detection system products; Check Point and Cisco firewalls; Network Associates and Trend Micro antivirus software; and Symantec's host-based intrusion-detection, antivirus and policy-compliance products.

Incident Manager is the core component of the Security Management System, Symantec's security information management (SIM) product. Pricing starts at $75,000. Other SIM vendors include ArcSight, Computer Associates, eSecurity, IBM, Intellitactics and NetForensics.

Symantec says the updated Security Incident Manager adds real-time correlation of data that goes beyond simply gathering security-event information for viewing in a single console.