Symantec Unveils Norton Cybercrime Index

The Norton Cybercrime Index, unveiled today, rates the current state of cybercrime in a single, simple number and indicates whether the danger level is going up or down. Interested visitors can drill down for almost any level of detail. This tool "alerts consumers to today's online trouble-spots and potential hazards, including the day's most dangerous Web sites, the most hijacked search terms by cybercriminals, as well as top scams, identity theft and spam."

The index is open-ended, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Symantec's proprietary algorithm draws on many sources to produce the index, among them the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, and the millions of customers using , , and . To ensure the validity of the algorithm Symantec had it analyzed by experts at the University of Texas's Institute for Cyber Security; the experts approved.

Those looking for detail can get a graphical view of historical data going back to the project's origin last summer. The history graph is flexible; users can drag for more or less detail. Besides the overall index, the graph shows the contribution of four important tracking areas: identity theft, malware, spam, and fraud.

The index also links to a page for each of those four tracking areas with specific current information about threats in that area. For example, the page for spam charts spam volume over time and breaks down spam by category. The fraud page lists countries hosting phishing sites. And so on.

Travis Wilkins, marketing lead for the Cybercrime Index initiative, characterized it as "a GPS to navigate around dangerous places on the Internet. Just as your in-car GPS can guide you around bad traffic or construction, the cybercrime index warns you about new scams or major sites that have been hacked."

Adam Palmer, Norton lead cyber security advisor, said "Norton fights cybercrime in a number of ways, including through education. Our goal is to have people add the Norton Cybercrime Index to their daily routine to get a clear understanding of the dangers that are threatening them online, and to take preventative action to avoid falling victim."

In addition to the Web site, Symantec makes the index available in various other ways. Those using the new can set the new control center panel to display the cybercrime index. A gadget for Windows 7 and Vista is available, as well as mobile editions for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. Visit www.nortoncybercrimeindex.com to see the current cybercrime index and access as much detail as you wish.