About using Norton Community Watch with Symantec Mobile Security 7.2
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About using Norton Community Watch with Symantec Mobile Security 7.2

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Article ID: 158087

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Updated On:

Products

Mobile Security

Issue/Introduction

What is Norton Community Watch, and how do Android clients with Symantec Mobile Security 7.2 (SMS 7.2) take part?

Resolution

When participating in Norton Community Watch, the Android will periodically send anonymous malware detection data to Symantec for product-improvement purposes.  Data is used to contribute information to Symantec Insight (reputation-based security) and similar programs.  NCW has long been a feature of desktop computer security software both in Norton products and in Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP).

This feature is enabled by default in SMS 7.2.  All communication is sent over the Android's wifi connection, if that connection is active.  Note that NCW does not collect or store any personal information of any user, and that the small amount of traffic is transmitted once per hour at most.

For more information, please see the article About Norton Community Watch.

 

It is possible to enable or disable participation in Norton Community Watch either from the Android client or from the administrator console on the Symantec Management Platform (SMP).

  • On the Mobile Security client, open Settings> General. To disable this feature, simply uncheck "Enable Community Watch."  
  • In the console, the option is configured under Device Management> Policy> Communications tab, Other Communication.  To disable this feature for all Android clients managed by that policy, simply uncheck "Enable Norton Community Watch."  

Note that disabling the feature does not in any way reduce the level of security available on the Android device.  

As the amount of wifi traffic and processing power required is very small, Symantec does recommend that Norton Community Watch remains enabled.