"Information is doubling every two years and this increases the risk of malware attacks," he said, adding IT governance is driving organizations to look at their risk-exposures and compliance status while the ongoing migration from tapes to disks dramatically transforms the way data is stored and managed.

Bregman, who guides Symantec's investments in advanced research and is responsible for the company's development centers in India and China, revealed that there will be more targeted threats and a more mature business model for cyber criminals this year.

He said cyber criminals today are getting more sophisticated, outsmarting the blacklisting and whitelisting security approach to malware by creating different software and by launching a more targeted approach.

As a solution, Bregman announced Symantec is deploying a new "reputation-based" software rating system that can accurately categorize less popular legitimate and malicious files in the "long tail."

"Reputation-based is a new strategy and works well into the gray area. It is even quicker than human analysts," Bregman said, claiming the new approach to malicious code protection classifies different types of software whether popular or unpopular.