The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is the largest voluntary organization in the world for girls and young women with an impressive global reach – impacting millions of girls from 146 countries. In 2011, WAGGGS partnered with Symantec to educate children and young people about online safety. Together, we developed a curriculum, called Surf Smart, that helps children and young people identify online risks, protect themselves and others, and address online incidents. In 2011–2012, the curriculum was piloted in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Within five months, the pilot reached approximately 1,400 girls and more than 115 curriculum educators, which included Symantec employee volunteers.

An FY14 grant from the Symantec Foundation further enabled Surf Smart to expand to Africa. The program focused on training African facilitators and peer educators to deliver it in their home countries. By mid-2014, these facilitators and educators had reached more than 57,000 girls and young women in 13 countries across the continent, including Nigeria, South Africa, Burundi, and Lesotho.

The Symantec and WAGGGS partnership has equipped 120,000 girls and young women with the knowledge of how to identify online threats and what online safety practices they should employ. Now, the Surf Smart program will continue its expansion to reach an additional 60,000 girls and young women in Latin America, the Caribbean, and India.

Increasingly Connected

Did you know that by 2020, it is predicted that there will be anywhere from 25 to 75 billion connected devices? While the estimates are drastically different, one thing is certain – we are undoubtedly becoming more and more connected to the online world. With the increase in digital connectivity, there will certainly be more cyber dangers. Everything from malware and phishing to cyber-bullying is on the rise, and these concerns are not exclusive to any one region – they are global issues. In Mexico alone, cybercrime increased 113% from 2013 to 2014.

Surf Smart engages young people in online safety to promote safe, positive us of the Internet, and we’re thrilled that the program continues to expand globally to reach regions of the world where online safety programs are not as prevalent.

Engaging Symantec Staff to get the Message Out There!

Just like the other phases of the Surf Smart roll-out, engaging Symantec staff is integral to the success of the program. We will be working with Symantec employees to promote the program and to share their expertise on Internet safety with WAGGGs members and program participants.

Online safety is a key philanthropic focus area for both WAGGGS and Symantec. Our partnership has enabled us to increase our social impact across several regions. We look forward to the next expansion into Latin America, Caribbean, and India!

Anne Brookes is WAGGGS Director of Global Partnerships and Philanthropy 

A little while ago, I wrote a script which aimed to make the documentation of our Windows firewalls a bit easier. Ideally I wanted something which could be nicely cut-and-pasted into some server documentation.

It needed to work across our servers, from 2003 onwards. I wrote up a version of this for Symantec Connect a few months back.  But this still required a lot of munging to get into a documentation-suitable form.

Last week I added HTML output functionality.. which Darren then fixed.... and now the prototype script gives output like this...

Which is a lot nicer than the CSV.

Don't forget to RSVP!!

Join us for the Pittsburgh Security & Compliance User Group meeting July 1, 2015

Location: Sharp Edge, 922 Penn Ave Pittsburgh PA 15222

 Agenda

• Welcome & Introductions
• Presentations:
  • Two Factor Authentication – Symantec VIP – Frank Hervert & Jeff Lagana from Reed Smith
  • New SEP release RU6/SEP Device Control & ATP:Endpoint – Josh Etsten Product Manager Symantec
• Wrap up, Prize Drawings & Conclusion
• Happy Hour

Register Now!

Technology industry research firm, Gartner, recently released the 2015 Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Enterprise Backup Software and Integrated Appliances. Symantec is again positioned as a Leader in this year's report. Symantec has been a leader in every Gartner Magic Quadrant in Backup and Recovery Software* 1999 – 2015, and is the #1 market share leader.(1)

In addition, Symantec has the fastest-growing integrated purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA)(2) in the market and NetBackup just took home Storage Magazine’s The Storage Awards 2015 for Data Protection Product of the Year. 

Figure 1 - Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup Software and Integrated Appliance(3)

Source:  Gartner (June 2015)

We’re thrilled with this top industry recognition and to our customers and partners – we say, “Thank You!” Without the “Power of Love” you show us in providing feedback on our services and solutions it simply would not be possible to receive this long-standing and unique recognition.

What is the Gartner Magic Quadrant?

For those not familiar with the Magic Quadrant, it’s an annual report published by Gartner for a number of different technology segments. It’s “a first step to understanding the technology providers you might consider for a specific investment”(4) and helping you determine the questions you want to ask potential technology providers.

We agree the Magic Quadrant is a great first step in the process of preparing a shortlist of backup and recovery vendors for your organization. In addition, we also encourage you to consider some of the trends that are having the most significant impact on how you protect and recover your data, applications and environments today, and in the future.

Role of Integrated Appliances

Last year Gartner expanded the Backup & Recovery software report to include integrated appliances. While we are extremely proud of being in the Leaders Quadrant again, we do not believe integrated appliances and specifically the NetBackup appliances received their proper recognition;

1. Customer count: we have sold, fulfilled, and currently support more than 13,000 integrated appliances to 3,000+ customers worldwide. This generated over $1B of combined SW and HW booking in 4 years.
2. Market leader: We offer a highly scalable backup and recovery platform available as either software or as an integrated appliance.
3. Value: Our customers tell us that both NetBackup and integrated appliances reduce complexity and operating expenditures.

• NetBackup customers experience an average of 30 percent reduction in operating expenses (OpEx) and payback within 15 months after their initial investment.
• NetBackup integrated backup appliances save both time and money, reducing 45% of first year costs and 39% of ongoing costs associated with build your own media servers.

What makes us the experts?

Each year we hear from tens of thousands of our NetBackup and Backup Exec customers around the globe – whether during our live customer forums, onsite customer visits, through our vast partner ecosystem, or on social media. So while the Gartner Magic Quadrant is an important first step in your evaluation process, we also want to provide our perspective on what matters most to our customers for their backup and recovery solution:

1. More data, less time: Our customers have more data, applications and environments to protect than ever before – and they have less time to do it. They are looking for high-performance solutions that scale quickly.
   
   1. Scalability:  according to independent third-party research, Symantec is the King of Scale. A series of benchmark reports demonstrates scalable performance gains of NetBackup over its top competitors.
   2. Completeness of Solution:  enabling your organization to protect your information across any combination of platforms, applications, storage and cloud. 
2. Modernize or bust: With more data, applications and environments to protect than ever before – our customers need to modernize their data protection architecture, whether it’s physical, virtual, moving to the cloud or a hybrid combination.
   
   1. Capability:  In all environments, knowing your vendor can provide support for the newest applications is crucial. Make sure they already protect – or have engineering plans in place to protect – the latest workloads. This is our #1 priority when delivering new releases because we know backup is a foundational element of your IT architecture.
   2. Consolidation:  a key factor in complex environments. NetBackup appliances help customers realize significant OpEx savings through consolidated backup and recovery and are the fastest-growing in the integrated appliance category.
   3. Innovation:  finding a vendor to support your environment as it is now and will be in the future, is critical. It’s not just about selecting a vendor that can support the latest products and technologies, they should also be able to ensure your information is available when and where you need it. Take this example - Symantec was the only data protection vendor to offer day-zero support (supported the first day it was made available to customers) for VMware vSphere 6. 
   4. Versatility:  from the remote office to the datacenter, physical to virtual and to the cloud; Symantec offers flexible options and capabilities. These options scale from the smallest to the largest of environments, enabling us to provide the right fit for your environment and business needs.

• Cloud-ready is the new norm: our customers are rapidly adopting more cloud-centric infrastructure and service delivery models that cut costs and deployment times, while increasing service reliability. But these technologies are also creating data protection headaches. We have established a “Hybrid is the Model” motto across all of our product development plans and are already supporting this with cloud-enabling functionality in our backup and recovery solutions. We also have recently launched new Self Service capabilities to make providing backup as a service even easier.

Back to the Future – Veritas, a new leader in Information Management!

As we move closer to our official separation from Symantec to become Veritas Technologies Corporation, an independent information management company – the “startup” energy is alive and well around the globe. And, this means the best of both worlds for our customers and partners – you get the attitude of a startup with the financial and technical strength of a recognized industry titan.

To view a complimentary copy: 2015 Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Enterprise Backup Software and Integrated Appliances.

Footnotes:

*13 reports published. Titles include: Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup Software and Integrated Appliances, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery Software, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Restore Vendors. Veritas acquired by Symantec

1. Gartner, Market Share Analysis: Enterprise Distributed System Backup/Recovery Software Market, Worldwide, 2014. Analyst(s): Jin-Sik Yim, Dave Russell, Jie Zhang. G00273622. Published: 13 May 2015.
2. IDC Worldwide Quarterly Purpose Built Backup Appliance Tracker – 2014 Q4, Publication Date: 3/23/2015
3. This Magic Quadrant graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research note and should be evaluated in the context of the entire report. The Gartner report is available upon request from Symantec. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose
4. Research Methodologies Gartner Magic Quadrant, http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/research_mq.jsp

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document and is used with permission from Gartner. The Gartner document is available upon request from Symantec.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The world is moving to the cloud. Between electronic prescriptions, healthcare patient portals, and online government websites, these new solutions help simplify lives and let us move at a fast pace. And with this flexibility and ease of use, ensure that users data is secure by letting Norton Secure Login handle all your high assurance authentication needs.

Play video

The authentication infrastructure leverages over fifty million existing Norton Secure Login users (those who use our Norton Security products) and allows them to elevate to a highly secured and identity proofed credential. Various customers use this today for authenticating to government websites, satisfying DEA Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances (EPCS) requirements, and more. These user accounts will be further secure with an embedded Symantec VIP as part of two-factor authentication for every username and password.

Norton Secure Login is a Kantara approved, FICAM certified, and NIST compliant credential service provider. Get started with NSL today!

A recent visit to an annual regional security conference left me both somewhat dazed – lots of flashing fire, smoke, red lights and sirens (though no fire engines) – and confused. Because, in amongst the plethora of alerting and analysis technologies, big data being at the vanguard, there was a limited, mixed message, technology-dependent paint spatter of holistic Incident response.

I believe this just doesn’t cut it anymore – if it ever did! – and that there needs to be an organisational-driven approach within the enterprise. This should be predicated on the assumption (a very reasonable one, I would argue, from the available evidence) that the bad guys are already in your environment, raising the thorny question: how does any enterprise deal with that in a timely and controlled manner, while keeping the business a priority?

No smoke without fire

I have been thinking about an upcoming Global Risk Analysis initiative, challenging myself and indeed the very methods I have previously used to conduct such an exercise to seek out and identify anything I have been missing. There it is in front of me, hidden in view, front and centre: masses and masses of data on vulnerability scans, telemetry from copious security controls and infrastructure that I’ve been overlooking.

So I have to ask myself the question: as an enterprise, why don’t I use this information to help me reinforce my areas of risk? After all, if they are ‘hot spots’ on a heat map, shouldn’t I be taking notice? I anticipate this angle will possibly be baulked at by the more traditional devotees to Risk Assessment who would follow a Q&A type approach.

Eureka moment

In fact, now that I think of it, Information Security Risk is really a set of complex interleaved angles that we, technology, infrastructure, attackers, defenders and the business impose on our operational existence. Interleaving the information previously mentioned with the results of a global Business Impact Analysis, I can see the hotspots of ‘risk’, but what am I going to do about them?  I have to admit I think of emergency responders who are better trained and experienced than the average member of the public, and they provide an excellent service that we trust and use constantly.

Incident Response Culture

The analysts have constantly asserted the shortage of reliable, experienced security professionals; indeed, the necessity to retain these valued assets. As we raise the security awareness of our employees, we can attune them into the mindset of incident response, flowering this approach into an Incident Response culture within the enterprise.

If you, as an enterprise, are lucky enough to have an incident response team that is well drilled and experienced in containing and treating risks that have evolved into incidents, then you are in a good place, with ample budget. However, are you, the CISO, of a mindset where you are willing and prepared to “assume the bad guys are already in”? Not the ‘if’ or ‘when’ of your organisation coming under attack, but the here and now of it. If so, then you can accept the reality that ‘it is what it is’. And then, and only then, move forward to having an emergency responder-type service culture within your enterprise.

One team, one fight

It’s time to rethink the balance of cost between available reliable, agile incident response teams in an enterprise and the availability of specialist services. We can’t boil the ocean, so let’s not try. Why not review the approach and investigate risk transference – or an insurance policy that works in practice, as well as on paper? It is all about the business, after all.

Companies everywhere are drowning in data. They are collecting more of it, and at an accelerated pace, while at the same time depending on it more than they have before. Data centers are being constructed around the world to house all this information, but research shows that more than two-thirds of what is being kept is worthless.

That’s where Veritas comes in.

The demand for our information management services has never been higher, as there will be more than 44 zettabytes of data in the world by 2020. Using current approaches, IT organizations will be incapable of managing that data – they don’t have the financial or human resources. At Veritas, our business is structured on addressing this issue. We are focused on helping companies harness the power of their information – wherever it resides – by driving availability and revealing insights across heterogeneous environments.

While most assume that infrastructure is the answer to managing the ever-increasing amount of data, we believe that approach won’t succeed. Rather, organizations must focus on their information to complement next-generation infrastructure deployments. Our view of the world through this fundamental lens creates new opportunities. We have three core beliefs that guide our approach to working with customers:

• More data does not deliver more value: Many organizations’ default mode is to simply keep storing data, but this approach is not sustainable. Companies are struggling to get a full picture of their data and determine what is valuable. Making this worse, every new platform and technology adds another layer of data fragmentation across the business. Information governance and information lifecycle management helps solve key challenges around visibility, action and control.
• Infrastructure availability does not mean application availability: New technologies, like converged infrastructure or IaaS cloud platforms, can help lower operating costs, reduce complexity and improve time to market. But applications must be up and running or business stops. Veritas is at the heart of the most mission-critical environments in the world, and as hybrid cloud models help bring efficiency and flexibility to these organizations, we’re able to help them adapt storage and applications to these new models. The demand for heterogeneous solutions is greater than ever, and our deep understanding of the total picture ensures that companies stay up and running, despite the interruptions, changes and risk inherent to the cloud revolution.
• Not all data is created equal: Cat videos are not the same as financial statements. And as a result, backup and recovery SLAs should be related to the value of the data. Harvard Business School studies show that companies that use their information can quickly increase productivity by five percent and profitability by six percent. Understanding and taking advantage of this idea brings efficiency and recovers cost. Brute-force approaches, like deduplication, simply make the problem worse.

As the world of data changes, companies and their IT organizations have new opportunities to move faster, smarter and with greater competitiveness – all fueled by access to the right information. At the same time, they have a responsibility to their customers, employees and shareholders to keep their business running, protect their data and drive down wasteful costs.

Veritas is a strategic, trusted partner for a wide range of customers, helping them reach for these opportunities and uphold their responsibilities. Our customers include a majority of the Fortune 500 across a wide array of industries and government institutions around the world. We are proud of the successes we have achieved together. But in many ways, we are just getting started! By becoming an independent entity later this year with complete focus on our customers and the information management market, we stand ready to accelerate more innovation to help our customers gain value from their data.

We look forward to sharing our plans to further help companies solve these challenges and harness the power of information.

Many were surprised to read that extremely sophisticated and expensive medical devices, such as X-Ray machines and Blood Gas Analyzers, had been used as a pivot point in more broadly penetrating IT systems in three hospitals.  Even though general vulnerability of networked medical devices has been well known, these are the first documented cases where such devices were used as pivot points for broader lateral attacks into the rest of the hospital. 

With such exploitation now reported, I’d like to help “peel the onion” on why such obvious problems have been practically impossible to fix for so long.  Surprisingly, the answer has nothing to do with technology.  Many of these systems actually, believe it or not, run well-known software “under the hood,” such as various flavors of Windows and Linux.  Sadly though, these extremely important machines are almost never updated with the latest security patches.  Such risks aren’t a secret in hospitals.  The healthcare industry has long seen the risks as these devices had previously been infected by malware such as Zeus, Citadel, Conficker, and more.  In fact, some (computer) virus infections have shut down entire hospital departments, required rerouting of emergency patients, or had similar implications on care delivery.

Of course, any PC in the hospital, just like your laptop, has countless defenses against such malware.  Well-patched machines running effective, up-to-date anti-virus software are well protected against such malware and hacker attacks.   Unfortunately though, for regulatory or policy reasons, hospitals are not allowed to patch medical devices, even medical devices running Windows or other commercial software.  Similarly, hospitals are not allowed to install any additional software on these medical devices, even security software essential for protection.  The original logic stems from good reason.  Medical equipment, including its software, must undergo formal testing and be determined safe for patients.  Changing the software in any way, including patches, or adding software without explicit approval by the manufacturer can change the behavior of the device in ways that could endanger patients.  For such reasons, regulatory restrictions prohibit tampering with medical equipment, even if the tampering is intended to protect the equipment and ultimately protect the patients.

How big are the risks?   Obviously there is no risk of “banking information” being stolen from an MRI.  However, some of the machines are so vulnerable that they may crash when they experience unexpected behavior.  Chris Eng, VP of Research at Veracode, recently tweeted that an MRI machine crashed when simply scanned for vulnerabilities, or other researchers have reported that a simple SNMP inquiry could “tip over” medical equipment. Of course, not all medical devices are that sensitive, but none of these devices should be so vulnerable.  When a device becomes infected, either as an entry-point, pivot-point, or just as part of a broader infection, we need to be concerned about the potential consequences. Critical system controls may get altered and could result, for example, in an excessive radiation dose from a CT scanner.  Vulnerabilities found in insulin pumps have been shown to be outright lethal.

Another concerning scenario would be that of a targeted attack on a medical device, for example to harm a specific patient or the reputation of a hospital. Although no such cases have been documented or reported to date, security researchers have demonstrated risks for Pacemakers (Kevin Fu), Insulin Pumps (Jerome Radcliffe) and Infusion Pumps (Billy Rios), the latter resulting in an advisory from Homeland Security’s ICS-CERT and a patient safety communication from the FDA.

What is being done?  In 2014, the FDA issued guidance to medical equipment makers regarding cybersecurity for the medical devices that they make and sell.  I’m sure we’ll see further guidance, and potentially even enforcement, in years to come.  Device makers need to design in the cybersecurity as well as capability to update devices “in the field,” and need to work with regulators on a process whereby it is easier for such updates to be provided to their customers.  At the same time, hospitals are working on their processes to build a more secure medical device infrastructure.

Could such a strategy work?  Will it?  Do you like the approach, or does it worry you?  Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Feel free to email us anytime at iot_security@symantec.com and visit us online at www.symantec.com/iot.

For more reading:

www.symantec.com/iot

https://securityledger.com/2015/06/x-rays-behaving-badly-devices-give-ma...

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/429616/computer-viruses-are-rampant...

http://deceive.trapx.com/AOAMEDJACK_210_Landing_Page.html

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2932371/cybercrime-hacking/medjack-...

https://twitter.com/chriseng/status/610412829405941760

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/drug-pumps-security-flaw-lets-hackers-raise...

http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/2012-02-29-hacker-shows-off-lethal-att...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1920-internet-data-at-risk-from-la...

www.fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/Guidanc...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7735502.stm

The month of June has a special place in my heart. Not only does it signal the start of barbecues and beach trips, but it also marks my company’s annual recognition of outstanding teachers. At Symantec, we believe that an excellent K-12 education can set children up for academic, career, and personal success, and that their teachers deserve our gratitude and support. We also believe that great teachers incorporate innovation, anticipate students’ needs, and continuously find new ways to add value to their classroom experience.  As a Teach For America alumnus myself, I’m thrilled that I can continue to support current corps members and alumni teachers.

That’s why I’m so honored to announce the winners of the 2015 Symantec Innovation in Teaching Awards. This year’s applicants contributed a vast spectrum of ingenuity, with their innovations ranging from creating student achievement data translation to building understanding and empathy among international students. While all are opening doors of opportunity to students, the five winning teachers were selected based on their successful innovation, collaboration, and measurable impact in the classroom. They will each receive a $1,000 personal award and $1,500 resource grant to further fuel innovative teaching in their schools, and will be offered an expenses-paid trip to further hone their craft at the Teach For America Educators Conference taking place next month in Jacksonville, Florida.

Read the rest of my blog here and check out the winners of this year's Symantec Innovation in Teaching Awards!

Ashley Savageau is Symantec's Community Relations Mananger and a Teach For America Miami-Dade alumnus.

On the heels of the news that Veritas will become an independent company from Symantec, it has been identified as a market leader in integrated backup appliances by IDC. According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Purpose-Built Backup Appliance Tracker for the first quarter of 2015, Veritas held the largest percentage of the integrated backup appliance market share and is growing at more than double the rate of its competitors in the category.

As the sheer volume of data continues to increase, companies have an ever more challenging responsibility to protect their data and drive down costs. This makes purpose-built backup appliances (PBBAs) critical to business continuity and recovery. IDC’s report tracks two types of PBBAs – target-based, which provide deduplication storage for backups, and integrated, which includes the backup software, server and storage. According to the report, integrated systems is the fastest growing segment of PBBAs, growing 33.1 percent. And Symantec – soon to be Veritas – has the largest revenue gain from 1Q11 to 1Q15.

These numbers showcase why Veritas is committed to investing in and advancing integrated systems. Customers are gravitating to these appliances to gain greater insight from their data, break down storage siloes and reduce operating expenses. And, as the report shows, customers are turning to Veritas to do so.

Top 4 Vendors, Worldwide PBBA Factory Revenue, First Quarter 2015 (Revenues in $ Millions)

For the overall PBBA market, EMC maintained its top standing with 52.4 percent share, followed in second by Veritas with 18.5 percent, IBM with 5.2 percent and HP with 4.5 percent (1).  More specifically, Veritas held 47.4 percent of the open systems integrated backup appliance market share in the first quarter, compared to 38.4 percent held by EMC. Veritas also grew 46 percent in the integrated market during the quarter – more than double the growth of other companies. On a rolling four-quarter basis, Veritas’ integrated market share was 40.5 percent, growing seven times faster than the largest competitor.

This is an exciting milestone for Veritas as we continue to drive the transition to integrated backup appliances by creating solutions that are scalable and flexible. Since entering the integrated PBBA market in 2010, Veritas has gained almost 50 percent of market share. Through NetBackup, Veritas provides a single product that allows customers to protect any workload across any storage – including tape, disk and cloud – and to more easily meet their desired SLAs through flexible recovery options.

We continue to build new, innovative capabilities into NetBackup in order to address broader operational challenges customers face, and we look forward to contributing further to this growing market!

(1)  Source:  IDC Worldwide Purpose Built Backup Appliance Quarterly Tracker, June 18, 2015. 

We've been caught out by this, so I thought I'd share.

Please note that maintenance paying DS6.9 customers will be automatically switched over to Deployment Server 7.6 on license renewal. If you want to continue using the DS6.9 codebase (which is now rebranded as Ghost Solution Suite 3) you must contact your sales representative or account manager.

The relevant extract from the GSS3.0 licensing FAQ (many thanks Andy) is this,

Q. We are current on maintenance for Deployment Solution. Are we entitled to Ghost Solution Suite 3.0?

A. Not automatically. However, through pre-approved discounting you can buy Ghost Solution Suite 3.0 licenses at the same cost as your Deployment Solution renewal, effectively trading over your Deployment Solution licenses to Ghost Solution Suite. The only issue with this is that you would need to wait until your Deployment Solution renewal is up for this to be 100% cost effective. If you have a lot of maintenance left on your Deployment Solution licenses but want to begin using Ghost Solution Suite 3.0 right away, please contact your sales rep to see if we can help. 

My personal feeling on this is that the decision to migrate DS6.9 licenses automatically to DS7.5 is illogical. They are completely different products, and target different use-case scenarios.

This decision to uplift customers straight to 7.6 without any dialog poses the risk of customer attrition.  All DS6.9 customers may not necessarily be aware that,

1. Ghost Solution Suite has been revived and version 3 has been released (GSS3)
2. That GSS3 is really DS6.9 under-the-hood
3. That they can transfer their DS6.9 licenses to GSS3 to ensure business continuity.

This means they might try 7.6, find it unsuited to their specific use-case, and then abandon the brand. If you are a Symantec partner, please do all you can to discuss the options with your customers before their license renewal date. 

Symantec celebrates today's Supreme Court decision. #LoveWins 

Photo via @HRC