Serious Discussion [Extension] Symantec browser protection(Symantec intelligence)

[Vitali Ortzi]

Symantec browser protection is an extension that brings Symantec STAR(Symantec intelligence) and is lightweight (lighter then trafficlight , Malwarebytes , avira and avast and many more extensions )

Download is availability is for chromium browsers exclusively (at least currently but Firefox is on the roadmap and will soon get Symantec browser protection as well)

Symantec Browser Protection - Chrome Web Store

Browser Security by Symantec Endpoint Security Division of Broadcom.

chromewebstore.google.com

Test categories To test the extension (currently blocking only malware , pishing)

Symantec Sitereview

sitereview.symantec.com

 

[Bot]

Thank you for sharing this information about Symantec Endpoint Protection. It's great to hear that it's lightweight and available for Chromium. The provided links for download and testing are also very helpful. For any issues or further discussions, feel free to post.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Thank you for sharing this information about Symantec Endpoint Protection. It's great to hear that it's lightweight and available for Chromium. The provided links for download and testing are also very helpful. For any issues or further discussions, feel free to post.

Tell more about Symantec intelligence (star)

 

[Bot]

Tell more about Symantec intelligence (star)

Symantec's STAR (Security Technology and Response) is a worldwide team of security engineers who provide extensive protection against current and emerging threats. It includes advanced technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced heuristics to detect and protect against threats.

 

[toto_10]

I would love to see how it perform against the other extensions in the below thread.

Hot Take - [Updated 29/12/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings

Comparison between browser extensions Test 29/12 Q&A - [Updated 29/12/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings Test 24/11 Q&A - [Updated 24/11/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings Test 12/11 Q&A - [Updated 12/11/2018] Browser extension comparison...

malwaretips.com

 

[Sandbox Breaker - DFIR]

Isn't this extension incorporated into SEP?

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Thank you for sharing this information about Symantec Endpoint Protection. It's great to hear that it's lightweight and available for Chromium. The provided links for download and testing are also very helpful. For any issues or further discussions, feel free to post.

Would Gen digital ( formerly Nortonlifelock provide data to Symantec star , intelligence division of Broadcom and would VMware and other divisions Broadcom aquired provide intelligence data ?
And does the Symantec browser protection include AI features ?

 

[Bot]

Would Gen digital ( formerly Nortonlifelock provide data to Symantec star , intelligence division of Broadcom and would VMware and other divisions Broadcom aquired provide intelligence data ?
And does the Symantec browser protection include AI features ?

While it's common for companies under the same umbrella to share threat intelligence data, specific details about Gen Digital or VMware providing data to Symantec STAR would be proprietary information. As for the Symantec browser protection, it does leverage advanced technologies like AI as part of Symantec's STAR technology to detect and protect against threats.

 

[Sandbox Breaker - DFIR]

I would love to see how it perform against the other extensions in the below thread.

Hot Take - [Updated 29/12/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings

Comparison between browser extensions Test 29/12 Q&A - [Updated 29/12/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings Test 24/11 Q&A - [Updated 24/11/2018] Browser extension comparison: Malwares and Phishings Test 12/11 Q&A - [Updated 12/11/2018] Browser extension comparison...

malwaretips.com

It's amazing at Web Reputation but integrates into SEP. You get full blown NIPS against browser/OS exploits, apache, nginx, sap and a host of other RCEs. It's essentially a WAF for your system

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Isn't this extension incorporated into SEP?

Indeed it's the same extension but I'm using it without any Symantec product installed
The only downside is you can't set categories , reputation options as the extension by itself doesn't have options to configure (maybe part of the reason it's lightweight) oh and since it blocks pishing and malware only by default it provides a low amount of false positives( personally still encountered false positives so malware / pishing only is aggressive enough for my usage )

 

[Sandbox Breaker - DFIR]

Yeah I like it for the IPS. That's cool

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

It's amazing at Web Reputation but integrates into SEP. You get full blown NIPS against browser/OS exploits, apache, nginx, sap and a host of other RCEs. It's essentially a WAF for your system

Thing is you can have Symantec intelligence for the browser and other extensions like netcraft, Microsoft defender and a good DNS like DNS.eu , quad9 and have insane intelligence with a good balance of false positives in the web and for the system you can either use anything you want whatever Symantec that installs the extension anyway or another product that doesn't have Symantec intelligence

About Symantec a whole package (XDR and all the good stuff ) is definitely some of the top security suites available although heavier then some

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Yeah I like it for the IPS. That's cool

Indeed with bluecoat they aquired back then and all the improvements they have done over the years created an awesome IPS system

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Yeah I like it for the IPS. That's cool

Technically most consumers don't really need to waste resources having an ips as it's main benefit is against targeted attacks
But journalists , business man etc who would be targeted by state sponsored actors or other advanced threats can definitely make use of an IPS system and other advanced technologies to proactively detect and stop attacks

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Symantec's STAR (Security Technology and Response) is a worldwide team of security engineers who provide extensive protection against current and emerging threats. It includes advanced technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced heuristics to detect and protect against threats.

"Third-party Intelligence

Third-party intelligence is used to complement primary

Symantec research and analysis. In addition to all

the techniques described above, WebPulse gathers

information from numerous third-party intelligence

sources. These include commercial malware and

phishing lists, community-contributed content, and

general research and ongoing monitoring of the overall

web security threat landscape. Information from

third-party sources must meet a very high standard

of quality and pass a set of rigorous checks before

the source is accepted for inclusion in the WebPulse

system"

What could be some of these third party intelligence sources

 

[Bot]

"Third-party Intelligence

Third-party intelligence is used to complement primary

Symantec research and analysis. In addition to all

the techniques described above, WebPulse gathers

information from numerous third-party intelligence

sources. These include commercial malware and

phishing lists, community-contributed content, and

general research and ongoing monitoring of the overall

web security threat landscape. Information from

third-party sources must meet a very high standard

of quality and pass a set of rigorous checks before

the source is accepted for inclusion in the WebPulse

system"

What could be some of these third party intelligence sources

Symantec likely utilizes a variety of third-party intelligence sources, which could include other cybersecurity firms, threat intelligence feeds, open-source intelligence (OSINT), industry-specific threat information sharing groups, and more. However, the specific sources are proprietary information and not disclosed publicly.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Symantec likely utilizes a variety of third-party intelligence sources, which could include other cybersecurity firms, threat intelligence feeds, open-source intelligence (OSINT), industry-specific threat information sharing groups, and more. However, the specific sources are proprietary information and not disclosed publicly.

seems like risk threat (ai based detection)

Is missing and there is only category based filtering for malicious and pishing

Can be confirmed here by level 10 malicious not blocked Symantec Sitereview

 

[Bot]

seems like riskthreat (ai based detection)

Is missing and there is only category based filtering for malicious and pishing

Yes, the Symantec browser extension primarily focuses on category-based filtering for malicious and phishing websites. While it does leverage AI technologies, the specifics of risk threat detection might not be directly accessible or visible to users. It's designed to work seamlessly in the background, providing robust protection without requiring manual intervention.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Yes, the Symantec browser extension primarily focuses on category-based filtering for malicious and phishing websites. While it does leverage AI technologies, the specifics of risk threat detection might not be directly accessible or visible to users. It's designed to work seamlessly in the background, providing robust protection without requiring manual intervention.

Norton safe web doesn't block anything under Symantec Sitereview but Symantec browser protection does block the malicious and pishing category so it definitely has better intelligence then Norton even though it lacks the ai based detection (risk threat )

 

[Bot]

Norton safe web doesn't block anything under Symantec Sitereview but Symantec browser protection does block the malicious and pishing category so it definitely has better intelligence then Norton even though it lacks the ai based detection (risk threat )

That's correct. The Symantec Browser Protection extension is designed to provide a more robust layer of security by blocking malicious and phishing websites, which might not be the case with Norton Safe Web. However, each tool has its own strengths and can be part of a comprehensive security strategy.