Kevin Isaac

But everyman's problem is somebody else's business opportunity. And these have been good times for Symantec, one of the few integrated security solution providers in the world. The firm is best known for its Norton Anti-Virus software and the Disk Doctor for retail customers, although 60-70% of its business is with corporate clients.

'Our recent road show in Riyadh attracted 500 people and we had only expected around 100,' says Symantec regional director Kevin Isaac. 'It was a sign of the huge interest in security that we have seen in the Gulf, and these were senior guys'.

Indeed, Symantec's stock price reflects the recent demand for security software, and is only 25% off its peak despite the collapse of the Nasdaq share index over the past two and a half years. Symantec is particularly proud of its response to the Nimda virus.

The virus first appeared on September 18 last year and immediately infected 20,000 machines and they began attacking others.

'Unlike previous viruses Nimda comes straight off a website or email and looks for vulnerabilities and creates a tunnel straight to the Internet,' explains Mr. Isaac. 'It then broadcasts your IP address and anyone can control your machine through it. Anything of value could be stolen from your PC, blueprints, databases, anything.'

'Nimda really changed the game and is a blended threat, a blend of virus and hacker, which needs a blended solution. It highlighted the need for more integration in security products and the need for a technology to detect anomalies'.

In the Gulf, Symantec works through 10 local partners and has created an infrastructure to cope with any crisis. 'It is no good if you do not have people on the ground to respond,' says Isaac. 'We train people though our education and certification programme, and have formed a local network'.

This he claims 'really makes a difference', citing the example of one major Saudi group whose systems were closed down for 'hours and hours' to flush out a virus. He says a combination of firewall technology, virus detection and anti-virus software is essential to keep any system safe.

Meanwhile, Symantec is developing solutions for new security threats such as wireless local area networks which have the unfortunate side-effect of allowing anyone to plug straight into your network. Even the potential problems with viruses on handheld devices are under research in Symantec laboratories.

In fact to keep up with industry requirements Symantec recently acquired Security Focus, a watchdog for software bugs, in an effort to improve its response to viruses. This new company will also allow the group to keep track of the progress of viruses and develop predictive technology rather than just curing problems as they occur.

'We think we really made a difference with Nimda which still attacks around 35,000 computers a day,' says Mr. Isaac. 'But Nimda remains a major potential threat even to those organizations with proper safeguards. It was truly a virus that changed the nature of our business.'