Article by George Norman

On 18 Jul 2011

Symantec, company that specializes in providing antivirus, antispyware, and internet security software solutions, has recently announced that its free Norton Safe Web for Facebook app is quite popular. But before we get into that, let’s take a quick look at the free app.

Norton Safe Web for Facebook is based on Norton Safe Web, Symantec’s reputation service that analyzes website and tells users if the sites pose a security risk or not; this way the user can find out if a site is dangerous or not before visiting it. According to Symantec, about 60% of all sites flagged by Norton Safe Web as unsafe, contain threats that can infect a computer with no user interaction (this is to say the user doesn’t have to download and install anything).


Norton Safe Web for Facebook is a tool that provides protection against social networking threats. Norton Safe Web for Facebook scans the user’s Facebook new feeds in search for malicious URLs; it detects links that lead to phishing sites, malicious downloads and links to unsafe external sites. This way the user does not click on a malicious link and is not directed to a site that poses a security risk.

With the introduction out of the way, let’s get back to the news. As mentioned above, Symantec announced that the free Norton Safe Web for Facebook app is quite popular. And more to the point, Symantec announced that there are now more than 1 million people using Norton Safe Web for Facebook.

“Norton Safe Web for Facebook is currently scanning an average of 3.5 million URLs daily – about 100 million every month, and we’re gaining about eight thousand new users every day,” said Jens Meggers, Senior Vice President Engineering, Norton by Symantec. “We’ve maintained a high user rating by ensuring it is a quick and easy way to save users from spamming their friends or infecting their own computers with malicious applications.”

“There is an inherent atmosphere of trust on social networking sites, where we’re all constantly sharing information and links with friends, family and coworkers,” said Marian Merritt, Norton Internet Safety Advocate. “Cybercriminals have been quick to capitalize on this aspect by figuring out ways to inject fraudulent or malicious links into people’s newsfeeds so that they appear to be from a trusted source. Our free application makes it easy to prevent that one wrong click which could put you in the crosshairs of a cybercriminal.”



Tags: Symantec, Norton Safe Web, Norton Safe Web for Facebook, Facebook

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