NortonLifeLock in Russia

Business in the CIS

2022: Suspension of sales in Russia after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine

On March 11, 2022, shortly after the start of Russia's military special operation in Ukraine, the American NortonLifeLock Inc, the developer of Norton antivirus, suspended sales of its products in the Russian Federation.

"Due to recent events and in accordance with export control rules, we cannot accept new orders or provide assistance at the moment," the company's website says.

Norton users in Russia reported the inability to update antivirus databases. In addition, it is not possible to reinstall an antivirus purchased long before the events in Ukraine. The developer does not allow the user to download the program, which, in turn, downloads the antivirus, and when registering the product, there is no connection with the Norton server.

2019

Rename from Symantec to NortonLifeLock

After top managers of the company were sued for forging accounting documents, on November 4, 2019, Symantec announced the closure of a deal to sell its corporate business to Broadcom for $10.7 billion. As a result, the American antivirus software manufacturer focused on consumer products and was renamed NortonLifeLock. Read more here.

Russian-speaking hackers sell the source code of Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro antiviruses for $300 thousand.

In mid-May 2019, the American company Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel), specializing in information security threat intelligence, reported a hack into the servers of three antivirus manufacturers: Trend Micro, Symantec and McAfee. Behind this cybercrime, according to experts, is the Russian-language hacker group Fxmsp, which began selling source codes of antivirus products on shadow websites, asking for $300 thousand for them. Read more here.

2018: Source Code Disclosure to Russian Authorities

On January 25, 2018, Reuters reported that SAP, Symantec and McAfee agreed to disclose to the Russian Ministry of Defense the source codes of some of their software products to search for vulnerabilities that hackers could use to hack into IT systems. Read more here.

2017: Symantec refused to license products in Russia. The company is afraid that the source code will go to hackers

The American manufacturer of network equipment and other high-tech products Symantec refused to certify equipment in Russia due to concerns that the source code could be used for cyber attacks. This was reported in June 2017 by Reuters, citing a statement by Symantec representatives^[1].

Symantec explained that the company needed to pass certification of one of the products (which product in question is not reported) and show the source code for verification of security requirements. The check was carried out at the request of the Federal Service for Technical and Expert Control, it was carried out by the Echelon company, which is certified by the FSTEC.

The American company decided that Echelon cannot be considered an independent laboratory, since it is closely connected with the authorities - in particular, the head of Echelon Alexei Markov is mentioned on its website as the head of the certification center of the Ministry of Defense. Symantec decided that protecting the interests of its own customers and reliably protecting the source code of products is more important to them than increasing its share in the Russian market, and since 2016 they have ceased to agree to certify products for security.

Other foreign companies, including McAfee and HPE, agreed to work with Echelon. Representatives of these firms claim that the source code was checked in conditions that exclude its theft and getting to hackers.

According to Reuters, in recent years, the Russian authorities have become more likely to check foreign products, including firewalls and antiviruses. Over the past three years, FSTEC has organized 28 such inspections, although from 1996 to 2013 it conducted only 13 such studies.

2014: CROC Solution Center based on Symantec technologies

In April 2014 "Croc" , it announced the opening To Moscow of technology-based solutions in the center, Symantec where customers can test them for free and choose the best product composition for their company, as well as simulate various situations that they face in practice. Read more

2011

Andrey Vyshlov - the new head of the office in Russia

On May 31, 2011, the newly appointed head of Symantec's Russian office in Russia, Andrey Vyshlov, and Kevin Isaak, the company's vice president of emerging markets, spoke about the Russian plans of the antivirus developer in connection with the change of leadership in his domestic office.

Андрей Вышлов

As Kevin Isaac told CNews, the replacement of Nick Rossiter to the place of the head of the Russian representative office "was searched for a total of nine months," and Rossiter himself proposed the candidacy of Andrei Vyshlov.

Kevin Isaac says he "does not expect that with the arrival of Andrei" the night will change to a day, but now that a Russian leader has appeared in the Russian division of the company, the company's interaction with the local market should improve. "

Surprisingly, the strategy of the new management of the company in the Russian market is to follow the strategy of the previous one. Andrei Vyshlov himself says that with his arrival in the company of a revolution in the information security market from Symantec, one should not expect: "We will develop in an evolutionary, not revolutionary way." So far, the company believes that the greatest opportunities for it are opening up in the mid-sized business segment.

The relatively modest market share does not bother Symantec Vice President Kevin Isaac. He says the company works in Russia "not with the goal of getting short-term benefits, derailing the jackpot and running away." Isaac says his company "wants growth, but not at the expense of long-term strategy."

Symantec's success in selling its "heavy solutions," Shabanov believes, does not affect the balance of power in the Russian security market: taking into account them, or without them, the leaders in it are the antivirus developers Kaspersky Lab and ESET.

Shabanov notes that Symantec's low activity in domestic retail is detrimental to brand recognition. At the same time, the new head of the Russian office, Andrei Vyshlov, says that if Symantec is stepping up in retail, "then not in the near future."

According to Shabanov, the Russian division of Symantec follows a strategy developed by foreign experts, and if this situation continues, then it is unlikely that changes in the company's market position can be expected.

Alexander Chachava, president of Leta IT (the Russian distributor of antivirus NOD32 ESET), says that although Symantec has historically failed to sell antiviruses in Russia, heavy solutions form more than half of the company's Russian revenue: in 2010, "perhaps up to two-thirds." This, according to Chachava, in particular, is indicated by the share of these products in the pie of sales of Leta IT itself.

Expansion of the office in Ukraine, Krasin - head of the office

On April 28, 2011, Symantec announced the expansion of the company's Ukrainian office and the appointment of Alexander Krasin as head of Symantec's representative office in Ukraine.

Alexander Krasin

As the head of the Symantec representative office in Ukraine, Alexander plans to strengthen the position of the local office in sales management, increase market activity, popularize the main solutions and the Symantec brand, and build a partner network.

In addition, under the leadership of Alexander, the Ukrainian office will be responsible for the strategic development of Symantec's business in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Armenia.

"One of the strategic challenges also facing us is expanding technical expertise among Symantec partners and customers in the region," notes Alexander Krasin. "To accomplish this, we plan to further expand the representation at the expense of technical specialists."

2009:10% Antivirus Market Share in Russia

According to IDC, in 2009, the world's leading antivirus developer was only one of the five leaders in the Russian security software market.

According to Anti-Malware, Symantec also held a stable third place in Russia in terms of sales of security software after Kaspersky Lab and ESET. The company's revenue in 2009 was expressed in 10.5% of the Russian Antivirus software market, which amounted to $218.7 million.

2000: Opening an office in Ukraine

Symantec's office in Ukraine has been operating since 2000. In Kyiv, there is a development center for one of Symantec's product areas - PCTools.

1996: Alexey Chubar I.O. Head of Representative Office

Алексей Чубарь

From 1996 to 1997, the duties of the head of the Symantec representative office in Russia were performed by Alexey Chubar, who worked at the company since 1994 as a system engineer.

Symantec Partner Program

Шаблон:Main 'Symantec: Partner Program

See also

• Communications Compliance Certification (CCC)
• Encryption Certification (Licensing)
• Security Certificates
• Fiber Optic Certification
• Uptime Institute Tier Certification

Notes