Symantec CEO on weathering the credit storm
…and 'looming' mobile threats
Despite repeated doom-mongering over the potential seriousness of mobile viruses, Symantec CEO John Thompson remains unconvinced.
Speaking at the Symantec Vision + ManageFusion EMEA 08 conference, Thompson said that although mobile antivirus is a growing market, the low risk posed by phone malware will mean the company continues to focus its efforts elsewhere.
Security from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more...
A is for Antivirus
B is for Botnets
C is for CMA
D is for DDoS
E is for Extradition
F is for Federated identity
G is for Google
H is for Hackers
I is for IM
J is for Jaschan (Sven)
K is for Kids
L is for Love Bug
M is for Microsoft
N is for Neologisms
O is for Orange
P is for Passwords
Q is for Questions
R is for Rootkits
S is for Spyware
T is for Two-factor authentication
U is for USB sticks/devices
V is for Virus variants
W is for Wi-fi
X is for OS X
Y is for You
Z is for Zero-day
He said: "Threats in the mobile environment have not really emerged yet and is something that still looms in the future.
"We have to balance our resources where there is a problem for our customers and an opportunity to monetise the products."
Nevertheless, Symantec makes security products for Palm OS, Symbian and Windows, and Thompson said it will begin developing for other emerging mobile platforms such as Android as they gain more users.
While a number of handset makers have found themselves squeezed by the credit crunch, Thompson believes the IT security industry can weather the economic storm.
"No company is immune to it, customers are going through tough and challenging economic times at the moment," he said.
"But just because times are tough it does not mean you do not worry about keeping intellectual property safe inside your enterprise or protect the information of your customers or partners."
Symantec has a voracious appetite for buying up companies - most recently SaaS messaging security firm MessageLabs for $695m.
Thompson said the company will continue its strategy of acquisitions, pointing to how its $13.5bn acquisition of Veritas had established Symantec in the storage virtualisation market.
"We are a very acquisitive company and we have $2bn in cash on our balance sheets," he added.