Managing the Virus Hunters

“Imagine what life would be like if your product were never finished, if your work were never
done, if your market shifted 30 times a day. The computer-virus hunters at Symantec Corp. don’t have to
imagine.” That’s the reality of their daily work life. At the company’s Response Lab in Santa Monica,
California, described as the “dirtiest of all our networks of Symantec,” software analyst collect viruses
and other suspicious code and try to figure out how they work so the company can provide security
updates to its customers. There’s even a hazardous materials box by the door to the lab, marked
DANGER, where they put all the discs, tapes, and hard drives with the nasty viruses that need to be
completely disposed of. Symantec’s situation may seem unique, but the company, which makes content
and network security software for both consumers and businesses, reflects the realities facing many
organizations today: quickly shifting customer expectations and continuously emerging global
competitors that have drastically shortened product life cycles. Managing talented people in such an
environment can be quite challenging as well.

Vincent Weafer, a native of Ireland, has been the leader of Symantec’s virus hunting team since
1999. Back then, he said, “There were less than dozen people, and … nothing really happened. We’d see
maybe five viruses a day, and they would spread in a matter of months, not minutes.” Now, Symantec’s
virus hunters around the world deal with some 20,000 virus samples each month, not all of which are
unique, stand-alone viruses. To make the hunters’ jobs even more interesting, computer attacks are
increasingly being spread by criminals wanting to steal information, whether corporate data or personal
user account information that can be used in fraud. Dealing with these critical and time-sensitive issues
requires special talents. The response center is a diverse group whose members weren’t easy to find.
Said Weafer, “ It’s not as if colleges are creating thousands of anti-malware or security experts every year
that we can hire. If you find them in any part of the world, you just go after them.” The response team’s
makeup reflects that. For instance, one senior researcher is from Hungary, another is from Iceland, and
another works out of her home in Melbourne, Florida. But they all share something in common: They’re
all motivated by solving problems.

The launch of the Blaster-B worm changed the company’s approach to dealing with viruses. The
domino effect of Blaster-B and other viruses spawned by it meant that frontline software analysts were
working around the clock for almost two weeks. The “employee burn-out” potential made the company
realize that its virus-hunting team would now have to be much deeper, talent wise. Now, the response
center’s team numbers in the hundreds and managers can rotate people from the frontlines, where they’re
responsible for responding to new security threats that crop up, into groups where they can help with new
product development. Others write internal research papers. Still others are assigned to develop new
tools that their colleagues will battle the next wave of threats. There’s even an individual who tries to
figure out what makes the virus writers tick –and the day never ends for these virus hunters. When Santa
Monica’s team finishes its day, colleagues in Tokyo take over. When the Japanese team finishes its day,
it hands off to Dublin, which then hands back to Santa Monica for the new day. It’s frenetic, chaotic,
challenging work environment that spans the entire globe. But Weafer said his goals are to “try to take
the chaos out, to make the exciting boring,” to have a predictable and well-defined process for dealing
with the virus threats, and to spread work evenly to the company’s facilities around the world. It’s a
managerial challenge that Weafer has embraced.
Discussion Questions

1. Keeping professionals excited about work that is routine and standardized ​and Chaotic is a major
challenge for Vincent Weafer. How could he use technical, human, and conceptual skills to maintain
an environment that encourages innovation and professionalism among the virus hunters?

● He divided the work into smaller and specialized groups to carry out a good
performance.
● He must focus on maintaining work efficiency since their work keeps progressing
and never stops.
● Coaching and mentoring workers

2. What management would Vincent be playing as he (a) had weekly security briefing conference calls
with coworkers around the globe, (b) assessed the feasibility of adding a new network security
consulting service, and (c) kept employees focused on the company’s commitments to customers?

a. When Mr. Vincent holds weekly security briefing conference calls with coworkers
around the globe it defines as the managerial role of a disseminator in which he will be
transmitting security information ground the globe and to his team members.
b. This activity would best be characterized as the managerial role of a monitor as he is
looking and getting a wide assortment of data to take the most ideal choices.
c. Mr. Vincent gathers everybody on the same stage it would best define as the managerial
role of a leader as he motivates his subordinates to focus on the organization's duties to
give better security updates to the clients.

3. Go to Symantec’s Web site, ​www.symantec.com​, and look up information about the company. What
can you tell about its emphasis on customer service and innovation? In what ways does the
organization support its employees in servicing customers and in being innovative?

As stated in their website “​Broadcom Inc. is a global infrastructure technology leader built on 50 years of
innovation, collaboration, and engineering excellence.” This company focuses on technology
leadership and category-leading semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions. They give
security,storage and frameworks the executives answer for help their clients – from buyers and small
organizations to the biggest worldwide associations – to make sure about and deal with their
data-driven world against more dangers at more focuses, more totally and effectively than any other
organization. Their primary viewpoint is to focus on customer fulfillment and innovation.Symantec
gives telephone backing to the entirety of its clients, be it family unit buyers, endeavors, or
accomplices. Symantec centers around concocting of novel thoughts which would help make the
experience of their clients shockingly better. One genuine case of this would be Symantec's way to
deal with tackle issues with multilingual client care, comprehending the issue, and giving security
caution to worldwide clients in English, yet in addition in their local language. Taking everything into
 account for Symantec's representatives, Symantec uses an “open innovation”' to actualize
development among its workers. They utilize the term 'open development' to incorporate both,
advancements inside the organization just as developments they bring from outside the organization,
be it through acquisitions, or joining forces.

4. What could other managers learn from Vincent Weafer and Symantec’s approach?

· Enhancing teamwork

· Respect for individuals

· Time management

· Maintaining work efficiency

· How to work with a diverse environment

· Problem recognition and disturbance handling

· Monitoring and improving services

Problem Format

Facts Ideas Learning Issues Responsible Action Plan/

Resources

Response Lab in Santa Somebody from How can we Person in Re-orientating the
Monica, California, their company improve the charge of the employees on the
described as the might have leaked company’s Response rules and regulation
“dirtiest of all our information. security and be Lan in Santa of the company.
able to find out Monica,
networks of
malicious intent California
Symantec,” from the inside?

Mr. Vincent Weafer, He is suitable for How can we Mr. Vincent Internet and attend
has been the leader of the position, has become the best Weafer forums that promote
Symantec’s virus experience and version of personal well-being.
hunting team since knowledge. He ourselves and be
might have shown able to lead others?
1999.
consistent good
performance in
his job.
 Mr.Weafer have felt Employees have How can we build Mr. Vincent Open forum / team
challenged from work good work ethics a good relationship Weafer building
environment and performance. with our fellow
co-workers?
The employees
might be diverse,
outspoken and
competent.

The launch of the The demand in How can we Mr. Vincent Innovate and create
Blaster-B worm anti-virus strengthen our Weafer/Empl new solutions
software has security software? oyees
increased.

Computer attacks are Due to How can we use Mr. Vincent Innovate and create
increasingly being technological the attacks to our Weafer/Empl new solutions
spread advancements, the advantage or be oyees
quality of viruses able to prevent
could have also them?
improved and
have been made
more capable of
breaking through
security
programs.

Employees are all It might be their How does this Employees/T Sharing what they
motivated by solving interest since they feature help the eam know and learned
problems. are young. company's future? members of from each other.
the company
Most of the
employees are
probably young,
competitive and
driven
individuals.
I. Introduction

Making sure about PCs, cell phones, and other associated gadgets from pernicious programming

has demonstrated to be incredibly rewarding for designers. Organizations like McAfee and Symantec

have produced billions of dollars in income over the previous decade or something like that, and the entire

market's worth is as yet rising. (Datapro.net, 2019 ) Symantec ​was founded in 1982 by visionary computer

scientists. Through the years they have become known for creating softwares and fixing virus threats around

the globe that gives good customer satisfaction. In the article it is stated that they are receiving 20,000

malwares in just a month while according to ​AV-Test Institute​ ​every day, at least 350,000 new malicious

programs are detected. Due to high demand for service and nonstop work environments ​these critical and

time-sensitive issues require talent wise.

II. Problem Statement

Symantec company seeks to resolve this issue by creating team improvement to identify potential

solutions on how to reduce the increase of various threats and work enviroment.

A. Objectives

● Improvement of work efficiency and environment

● Identify potential solutions increase virus attacks and;

● Determine influences on burn out employees.

III. Analysis and Findings

Facing quick shifting customers satisfaction and continuously emerging global competitors that

have drastically shortened product life cycles are realities that this company is facing. Due to unending

work and being with talented people Mr. Weafer felt challenged. Over time there are drastic increases of

various threats. One example of this is, the company receiving 20, 000 viruses in a month. Due to

unending work and being with talented people Mr. Weafer felt challenged. To overcome this shortcoming
and lack of people he decided to create a small specialized group to maintain work efficiency and reduce

employees possible burn out.

IV. Conclusion/Recommendations

In relation to the study, organizational leaders require dynamic measures to work with various

gatherings and people. A pioneer must comprehend the qualities and shortcomings of various experts

before making an arrangement of activity to improve the viability of the association. Recognize their

shortcomings or the territories where explicit experts face troubles when functioning as a group. Create

groups with reciprocal abilities and qualities. Urge experts to move in the direction of explicit objectives

and give tasks dependent on their abilities, information and foundation. Productivity in an organization

requires a comprehension of various experts and their part inside the business, just as approaches to

improve their capacities or utilize remarkable aptitudes.