Symantec unveils global security operations center in India

CHENNAI, INDIA: Symantec Corp. announced the opening of its new global Security Operations Center (SOC) in Chennai, India. Shoring up Symantec’s SOC network, the center in Chennai – along with SOCs in the UK, USA and Australia – will be part of the first line of defense against online threats for customers across the world. Symantec’s SOCs offer real-time, comprehensive protection from known and emerging threats, enabling business and governments to minimize risk and strengthen their security posture.

Experts at the Chennai SOC will provide real-time threat monitoring, analysis and remediation guidance to customers to help them minimize the impact of security incidents on their business operations and reduce their overall IT risk. Symantec’s SOCs analyze more than 10 billion logs worldwide each day to provide enterprise-wide protection and help customers bolster defenses and respond to new threats as they emerge. The GCIA (GIAC Certified Intrusion Analysts) certified analysts evaluate on average 15,000 potential events and validate 700 daily security incidents and have the capability to escalate 200 severe events per day, each within a record ten minutes.

“Businesses today are operating in times of advanced persistent threats and targeted attacks. They require powerful technology, accurate threat intelligence, proven processes, and experienced professionals to combat complex and sophisticated threats,” said Ajay Goel, MD, India & SAARC, Symantec. “The SOC in Chennai boosts Symantec’s Managed Security Service (MSS) offerings and helps our customers achieve compliance and reduce overall security risk.”

Increasing security incidents and risks requires correlated intelligence for better prevention. Symantec’s Global Intelligence Network (GIN) provides SOCs with information required to identify new attacks and techniques. The GIN monitors attack activity worldwide with 240,000 sensors in more than 200 countries, tracking more than 32,000 vulnerabilities in products from 11,000 vendors involving 72,000 technologies. The GIN also identifies spam and phishing with 2.5 million decoy accounts and gathers malcode intelligence from 130 million clients, servers and gateways. These reports eventually become the basis for creating rules and definitions for viruses and spam.

I would like to congratulate Symantec on its Security Operations Centre in Chennai, India,” said Gulshan Rai, director general, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT In). “India’s private and public sectors are witnessing increasing dependency on IT which is fuelled by various Government driven IT enabled initiatives. This rapid adoption of IT for personal and business purposes requires a secure computing environment. Infrastructure such as Symantec’s SOC is an important step towards building a robust cyber security eco system.”

In addition to being a global asset, the SOC in Chennai is seen to be of immense value to businesses in India. While the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) XVI revealed dramatic increases in global Internet threats in 2010, it also reported an alarming increase in threat activity in India. Particularly of concern has been the high prevalence of Stuxnet infections in India, calling attention to the fact that businesses here are very vulnerable to targeted and complex attacks.

The key to protecting information and infrastructure against such stealthy threats lies in threat intelligence networks, consisting of both people and technology. Engineers and security analysts at Symantec’s India Innovation Centers play a pivotal role in the research and development of Symantec’s security technologies.

“Having a global Security Operations Center in India speaks volumes of the confidence Symantec has in the engineering talent of this country. To date we have more than 3,000 employees across our Innovation Centers in Pune, Chennai and Banaglore and we look forward to continuing to expand our operations further,” said Shantanu Ghosh, vice president, India Product Operations, Symantec. “The Chennai SOC expands Symantec’s footprint in the country and, together with the Security Response Lab in Pune, it will ensure Symantec continues to offer customers the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute threat intelligence possible.”