Hackers Stole Norton Anti-Virus Source Code

BTW for those paranoid moments I use Virustotal.com. It's as good as having 43 antivirus programs. Yes 43, that's not a typo. Malware authors are known to use Virustotal to test how well they can avoid detection by the most antivirus programs.
 
I've seen this debate before, and it may as well end here. It's akin to a belief; logic, arguments or facts rarely, if ever, work.
 
RealityCrunch said:
I've seen this debate before, and it may as well end here. It's akin to a belief; logic, arguments or facts rarely, if ever, work.
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Fact: After years of using antivirus software all I ever got was false positives.
Fact: I can install antivirus anytime if I need to.
 
I wonder what "segment" was stolen? Maybe the source code to the EULA screen? ;-)
 
niconx said:
Fact: After years of using antivirus software all I ever got was false positives.
Fact: I can install antivirus anytime if I need to.
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Indeed so, and you would be well advised to follow your own instincts on the matter. However, we shouldn't discount others who's own facts differ from yours, nor the fact that facts can change :)
 
Athough, we shouldn't really be using the word "fact". "Personal experiences" would be the better phrase in this segment.
 
niconx said:
I've never seen a virus that ran well and I have fixed hundreds of systems. Yet again noscript mitigates risks of click jacking and cross scripting. Again, I use virtual machines to do things that might be risky. So even if a virus did infect, it would only infect a throw away virtual machine. I have very little faith in any antivirus software, they are all bad.
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I agree with you partially, but why NOT run something like MSE - you don't even know it's there.
 
Spudsdude said:
The code wasn't with Symantec, it was with a 3rd party. Symantec servers where not breached.

It was ancient code from years ago and doesn't reflect anything in the current products.

I like both products myself, and use and recommend them, and yes I work there too.
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Sigh. A lil biased much?
If it was old source code... it was probably the only source code worth stealing during the 2003-2005 era.

You and I both know that Symantec's AV days of greatness are in the past. I'd love symantec to be king of the hill, but it's such a fail when it's a resource hog. (memory/cpu/harddrive bandwidth). There are so many better AV's than Symantec or McAfee even.
 
stop!theradio said:
It's "viruses", people; "virii" is not a word. :p
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I have been rightly corrected. Viruses it shall be for now on... :p

To everyone who asked: I guess it really doesn't matter since some crap will get through any A/V no matter how amazing it may be.
 
PornoSatan said:
Using NoScript is like having god mode on when browsing the internet. Functionality when I need it, security when I don't.
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Not quite. If you're running firefox then get RequestPolicy as well. And RefControl for the cherry on top. You're welcome.
 
Did anyone beside me actually read the article?

“This document explains how the software is designed to work (what inputs are accepted and what outputs are generated) and contains function names, but there is no actual source code present,” he said, speaking to the IDG news service.

The “The Lords of Dharmaraja”, the hacking group who authored the Pastebin note, has yet to release the code online.

A second note appeared detailing files that feature in the source code, but Symantec could not confirm if the file listings if more of its products or services could be compromised.
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This is embarrassing to Symantec from a publicity standpoint but from an actual security standpoint this is small potatoes. This so-called hacker group is just self-promoting over a minor lucky file grab. The real danger to any security software firm is the intrusion where the real source files get lifted and the hackers don't say anything. I think you can understand why.
 
I like porn with hot chics.
I installed MSE to watch my flix!

MSE have been to good to me and all my pron watchin buddies. I swear by it at this point.
 
MrGuvernment said:
so you probably haven't actually used Norton in about 2 years and are just all jumping on the lets bash Norton bandwagon...

Norton did a massive revamp of their AV just a while back and it improved massively and become highly rated on av-comparatives.





Your one of those :rolleyes: common sense will save me!
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I don't just sit there, i'm pretty proactive with my common sense. If I have a virus I don't need an antivirus to tell me, I have tools to do that. Antivirus is for grandmothers and sysadmins with 1000 computers to look after
 
niconx said:
I've never seen a virus that ran well and I have fixed hundreds of systems. Yet again noscript mitigates risks of click jacking and cross scripting. Again, I use virtual machines to do things that might be risky. So even if a virus did infect, it would only infect a throw away virtual machine. I have very little faith in any antivirus software, they are all bad.
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It seems me and you are quite similar, we don't use AV, but make use of great tools like NoScript or Virtualization. I virtualize anything that I have to check out that might be questionable. Though I do disagree with your assessment on alot of malware these days. The crimeware that's out right now can be very stealthy. Virtualize an XP and cruise MalwareDomainList to see good examples. Alot of the stuff is still early 2000's "YOU HAVE BEEN INFECTED!!!" (which is basically what you're talking about), but there's quite a bit that will silently install as well and won't destroy performance or give any initial indictation it's there.
 
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