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Symantec's Genesis to Usher in a New Age of Trust?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the grand-designs dept.

eldavojohn writes "Symantec has announced that they will be creating a massive security package called Genesis. Semantec has set their goal to 'Security 2.0' which is proposed to be 'a new age of trust on the Internet.' From the article: 'Symantec plans a one-stop software service tying together anti-virus, anti-spam, firewall and a host of other PC optimization technologies...' This is certainly something the common computer user could buy instead of having to fork over cash for every component. I don't think I'll be purchasing it though."

4 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Genesis? by dorkygeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's hope it was designed intelligently then...

    But seriously, I'd rather have the security problems fixed at the source, instead of having to add layers and layers of so called "security software".

    --
    Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
    1. Re:Genesis? by Al+Dimond · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There have been plenty of buffer overrun vulnerabilities allowing potential arbitrary code execution on all major operating systems. There have been plenty of priviledge escalation vulnerabilities on all major operating systems. All you need to get from there to a real exploit is either (a) a vulnerable server listening on some port or (b) some user to click on the wrong link or open the wrong attachment.

      90s Outlook had lots of problems. 90s IE had lots of problems. There's a big problem with user accounts on Windows and how difficult it is to run as non-admin. And Windows doesn't have effective tools like sudo to grant occasional privledges beyond the usual. These tools can be built onto Windows. Third-party developers can be pressured to release software that works with the security model. Exploits can be patched, and quality control can be improved. And there are a lot of people working for Microsoft on these very things.

      Microsoft may never fully win the battle against hackers. But then again, I don't know if anyone ever can. Even OpenBSD has had security holes in its default install a few times, and it's fighting a much less malicious group of hackers than Windows is. I love using GNU/Linux; it's cool that Unix has had sudo since 1980 and a tradition of sane security practices. That doesn't mean we should get arrogant about security.

  2. Internet Security by PaladinAlpha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really, this doesn't seem all that revolutionary -- Symantec, like McAfee, like any other company serious in the business, ALREADY offers an integrated suite of tools (Internet Security) and no matter the advancement of interplay and integration I have a hard time believing that Genesis will come across to the average user as being so much more. Wait and see, I guess.

  3. On Symantec's new software by Haiku+4+U · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Genesis? Sounds good.
    Secure from malware at last!
    So, is it Linux?