Saturday, May 27, 2006

Symantec Anti Virus Software Flawed !!!

A flaw has been detected in Symantec's leading anti-virus software AGAIN!, by researchers from eEye Digital Security.

The anti-virus software, Symantec 10.x, which protects some of the world's largest corporations and US government agencies, suffers from a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files, or implant malicious programs.

Symantec is investigating the issue, but could not immediately confirm the vulnerability. However, if confirmed, the threat to computer users would be severe because the security software is widely used, and because no action is required on the part of victims to bring on the attack.

Symantec says it has these anti-virus products installed on more than 200 million computers. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the company said that it is examining the reported flaw, but described the flaw as so new that the company does not have any details on the same.

Researchers at eEye Digital Security have said that the vulnerability is capable of being exploited by remote hackers to take complete control of the target machine, "without any user action". eEye Digital has published a note about the discovery on its Web site, but has pledged not to reveal details until after Symantec repairs the flaw, as this would help hackers attack Internet users. eEye Digital has posted a brief advisory to raise alarm about the bug, which can allow execution of malicious code with system-level access. The flaw carries a "high risk" rating because of its potential for serious damage.

Meanwhile, the flaw happens to come at a very awkward time for Symantec. John Thompson, chief executive, Symantec just recently campaigned to convince consumers to trust Symantec and not Microsoft for protecting their personal information, he he he lol…

No comments: