Symantec recently changed its licensing model for higher-education institutions. As a result, the College can no longer offer to faculty, staff, and students a free version of Symantec antivirus for their personally-owned computers.
ITS will continue to support a centrally managed version of Symantec for employee computers owned by the College to ensure auditing compliance. ITS will transition to Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender for other College-owned computers running Windows. ITS will secure College-owned Mac OS computers through the operating system’s built-in security features.
Even though personally-owned computers running Symantec Endpoint Protection version 14 may continue to receive updates, it is unclear when Symantec will discontinue this support. ITS encourages faculty, staff, and students to begin selecting an alternative antivirus solution for their personally owned computers. Some free options are available for Windows including Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows 7 and Windows Defender, which is configured and enabled by default for Windows 8 and 10. A few free options available for Mac OS include Sophos, Avast, and AVG.
Those with questions regarding these changes are welcomed to contact the Help Desk or visit the Tech Lounge.