Symantec is a company that puts out excellent security software through its Norton susidiary.  However, the very fact that their security software is well know for being effective makes its name easy to use by scammers in order to make you a victim of identity theft.  Recently many people have been receiving an email informing them that either their Norton security software suscription is about to expire or that unusual activity has been detected in their email account and that in order to be sure that they are not infected, they should click on a link provided in the email that takes them to a page that asks for their email address and password.  If you fall for this scam and provide the information requested in either message, you will put yourself one step closer to becoming a victim of identity theft as you provide the identity thief with full access to your email account.  You also will be endangering the people with whom you correspond by email as the identity thief will use your email address to send scam and identity theft emails that appear to be from you directed to your friends.  This technique is called spearphishing and it is described elsewhere in this website/blog.

TIPS

Norton will not send you unsolicited emails.  You will receive a popup when your subscription is about to expire and in the case of unusual activity, you may receive an alert that come up on your computer, but not through email and never will Norton ask you for your email address and your password.  If you receive any notice that you think might possibly be legitimate, call the company or go to its website and check out the original message sent to you.  You will find out it is a scam.