David Flynn14 October 2006, 6:46 AM
Symantec, the software company accused by many Mac users of scare-mongering about Mac security, is about to release a set of Universal-friendly security programs for the Mac.
Capitalising on the growing market share of the new Intel-powered Macs, if not the expected inevitability of a Mac OS X virus turning up 'in the wild' (not just as a proof-of-concept exercise), Symantec is ramping up its presence in the Apple world.
New versions of its current Personal Firewall 3.0 and Internet Security 3.0 suite -- both of which are currently PowerPC utilities forced to run under Rosetta on current-gen Intel Macs -- are being rewritten as Universal binaries and will hit the streets alongside MacOS X 10.5 Leopard early next year.
They'll be joined by Norton AntiVirus 11, although NAV 10 for Mac is already in Universal.
Given the ability of the Intel Macs to run Windows under BootCamp, we asked, "is Symantec considering a bundle of NAV for both platforms in a single box or on a single disc"?
"That's a bit of a niche market at the moment" suggests David Hall, Symantec's local Consumer Product Marketing Manager. "We see NAV for Windowsand the Mac as separate productds to address separate problems. But we'll see what happens when BootCamp (in Leopard) is finalised".
Meanwhile, a Universal version of Symantec's new Norton Confidential software will ship within the next four weeks.
Like its Windows counterpart, the $79 subscription-based NC for Mac is a browser plug-in which aims to identify and defeat what the company terms as 'transactional crimeware' such as phishing and spoofing attacks, along with trojans and keyloggers.
However, whereas the Windows offering initially works only with Internet Explorer and promises Firefox support in a future update, the Mac version oddly gives Apple's primary Safari browser the cold shoulder and runs only on Firefox.
Mike Romo, Symantec's Product Manager for Macintosh, told APC "the reason we don't support Safari out of the box is because Safari lacks Firefox's plug-in infrastructure, so we have to develop something very specific to the Safari browser. We're working with Apple to help us engineer the solution and we're looking forward to releasing a free Safari compatibility update within eight weeks of releasing Norton Confidential."
Symantec has been responsible for many of the most controversial claims about Mac viruses. Many Mac users have accused the security giant of scare-mongering where no immediate threat actually exists, in order to build up market demand for its Mac software.