Symantec Intros Intelligent Authentication to Combat Evolving Threats

October 12, 2011

Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication is a powerful addition to its cloud-based user authentication service, Symantec VIP. Dedicated to protecting an organization’s network and applications against unauthorized access, Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication enables strong authentication that is both effective and unobtrusive for the end user.

Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication employs security technologies including: system fingerprinting, user behavior monitoring and geolocation access monitoring. In addition, Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication leverages Symantec DeepSight intelligence, which has some of the most extensive data on IP address reputation and URL reputation, in order to thwart potentially malicious activity by denying access.

“As more organizations push to online` and mobile channels to deliver services to their end users, the need for simple, yet strong authentication solutions will continue to grow as a password only approach is simply not secure,” said Fran Rosch, vice president, Trust Services and Identity Protection, Symantec. “The new VIP Intelligent Authentication gives organizations one of the most advanced authentication solutions in the market that is delivered as a cost effective cloud-based service and provides end users with a seamless authentication experience.”

Attackers are constantly changing tactics by leveraging malware and social engineering efforts to steal password credentials and hopping between compromised hosts to launch attacks, thus organizations must stay ahead of these emerging threats.

Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication offers a unique suite of tools providing among the best possible protection for customers. Using DeepSight intelligence derived from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, VIP Intelligent Authentication can quickly identify and prevent potentially damaging login attempts from IP addresses associated with known attack actors. VIP Intelligent Authentication can also strengthen the authentication process by leveraging devices already equipped with Symantec Endpoint Protection, Norton, or Intel Identity Protection Technology (IPT) to better prevent logins from unknown or risky endpoints.

Further demonstrating its dedication to the security and management of mobile devices, Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication extends strong authentication to web-based applications accessed from these devices. With the influx of mobile devices across the globe, organizations can now provide secure multi-factor authentication using VIP Intelligent Authentication.

While most organizations are aware that simple usernames and passwords no longer provide adequate resilience against today’s sophisticated attacks, they’re also concerned that an onerous technology may hurt adoption and usage. Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication solves this problem, providing strong, multi-factor authentication without changing the login experience for users. All the strong authentication—such as device verification, behavior analysis, reputation and geo location analysis—happens seamlessly. Only if a login is deemed suspicious, is the user challenged to provide more information such as a onetime password that is sent over email or SMS.

As part of the Symantec Validation and ID Protection Service (VIP), VIP Intelligent Authentication validates Symantec’s promise to deliver a comprehensive, flexible, and robust set of authentication solutions. With Symantec VIP, organizations can deploy not only risk-based authentication, but also hardware or software one-time password (OTP) tokens, mobile OTP tokens, and SMS or voice-enabled OTP authentication—all from a single, unified authentication solution. Strong authentication, coupled with Symantec’s Encryption and Data Loss Prevention products, not only enhances the VIP portfolio but provides a firm foundation for an information-centric approach to protecting an organizations’ data from unwanted viewers.

Symantec VIP Intelligent Authentication is available now and included with Symantec VIP at no additional incremental cost. Symantec VIP is delivered as a cloud-based service and licensed on an annual per-user subscription basis.