In the past decade cyber-crime has exploded from the bedrooms of teenage geeks to become the multi-million-pound business of sophisticated criminals. Few know more about its threat and prevalence than John Thompson. The 58-year-old American is chairman and chief executive of Symantec, the $17.5bn company that is effectively the ‘guardian of the web’.The company is best known for its Norton AntiVirus software, which has sold over 200 million units, but it is also the biggest developer of the firewall security devices and other infrastructure used by leading corporations to ward off fraud. Such is the reach of Symantec that it views almost a third of the 60 billion emails sent via the web each day.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2174755,00.html
The guardian of cyberspace – interview with Symantec’s CEO John Thompson
His company has spearheaded the global fight against internet crime, but Symantec’s chief executive John Thompson believes there is still much more to be done – and that this is one job that must not be left to Microsoft. Nick Mathiason from The Observer met him