Symantec

Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP), formerly known as Symantec AntiVirus, is a virus and spyware scanning program developed by the Symantec Corporation

Note: Symantec for students was discontinued on Saturday, December 21st, 2019.

Students should uninstall Symantec, and visit CUIT's Malwarebytes for Students page to download our new endpoint security protection software.

Faculty and Staff:

The Symantec installer was created for students' personal workstations and laptops.

It should not be installed on servers or Columbia-owned/managed equipment. If you would like to have SEP installed on a University-managed computer (managed by a department outside of CUIT*), please have your IT support person/team contact CUIT Security to purchase Symantec licenses.

This will continue to be supported until August 2020. At that time, Symantec will be automatically uninstalled and Malwarebytes will be installed for you on your CUIT-managed machine. As always, please approve updates to your computer as soon as you’re able!

*CUIT-managed-computers are automatically configured with virus protection software.

How to uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)

To uninstall the Symantec Endpoint Protection client for Windows, please visit Symantec's uninstallation page for Windows

To uninstall the Symantec Endpoint Protection client for Mac, please visit Symantec's uninstallation page for Macs

FAQ

CUIT aims to protect the entire University from malware, and our license with Symantec was only for students.

We have negotiated a competitive contract with Malwarebytes, a comparable anti-malware product, that entitles all Columbia students, faculty and staff to free anti-malware.

Once your license expires - Symantec will no longer be supported and will not receive signature updates, meaning that it will quickly become ineffective as anti-malware protection.

For Students:
After December 21st, 2019: Symantec Endpoint Protection licenses expire

For Faculty/Staff:
After August 15, 2020: Symantec Endpoint Protection licenses expire

 

You will need to purchase Symantec on your own if you wish to keep using it. You can learn about purchasing instructions on Symantec's website.

Symantec provides OS X compatibility information on their website.

If needed, a separate page details how to authorize kernel extensions for SEP 14 for macOS 10.13.

Symantec will be resolving this in future releases, but has provided a workaround for this in the meantime.

Follow the "disable intrusion prevention" instructions, found on the bottom of the Symantec's support page.