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- Mabu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16No you're not damned. You just need to not use Symantec Norton Antivirus. The program is notoriously problemmatic, slow, insecure and in some cases can render a person's PC into a brick.
- wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13and you can also have unprotected sex. Just be smart about the chicks you nail, and don't open unsolicited legs.
- idlebrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11One more reason to use Eset's NOD32.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11So what else is new? Norton is trash, i thought people already knew this.
- eilorux, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Apple is not the ONLY cure to Windows problems.
- pabster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Exactly.
Anyone who labels Symantec "top" Antivirus program ought to be drawn and quartered. - ideefix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11my opinion is: symantec av solutions are not top antivirus programs so hackers may continue they jobs
- Cputerace, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Solution: Drop Symantec, Go with Avast, its free for home use and has P2P/IM Scanning, Network Shield, Web shield, email shield...
basically its much better and its free...
http://computeradvice.mikebinns.net/installAntivirus.php - blablaman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Maybe that's a problem. I thought people only used Norton because it came preinstalled with their computers...
- clumsyninja, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6U.S. government agencies use Symantec..
- ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6JimV - This article is about the corporate version, Symantec Antivirus and not about the home version Norton Antivirus.
- opus20745, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Actually, NASA uses McAfee.
- tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@theotheragentm - you are correct, but it takes time to backup data, not to mention the fact, most people are lazy to do it. The average joe won't do it to all his files, maybe just his important data.
@ideefix - yeah, symantec doesn't know how to make security products. Their products run really slow, and don't do a very good job of protecting the pc. My friend used it, and even updated to the latest version, it didn't catch one virus. I told him to install another virus program and he found a virus with Nod32.
Once you install NAV, it's a pain in the ass to get rid of, but it's definetly worth it, since you will see a major improvement in your pc's performance. I've never seen antivirus do that to a computer, Norton just literally destroys your computer's performance. - SniperX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Yeah.. you *could* get an apple, you could also throw your pc in a fish tank, both would stop viruses from getting to you, both are unacceptable "solutions" in most cases.
And this news of "Norton Antivirus being subvertable by hackers" is just as breaking news as saying Windows is succeptable to hacker attack!! Very old news, since it's the most popular AV program it's going to be the first program attempted to be subverted by malicious code. - Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anything that matters is not connected to the internet.. if it really really matters it's not even easily accesible in person. Sheesh. You think they leave the doors at the CIA unlocked too?
- ZekeSulastin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Waitwaitwait, so a Symantec Antivirus problem is a reason to dump Windows? No wonder your higher-ups didn't go along with your plan ...
- thegreatsam, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5As do a lot of companies
- wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4My right hand would not stand for that.
- lhenkel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Are you serious? Leaving out obvious stuff like the VA data that was just stolen, I'll just cover stuff I personally saw in the Army.
All our computers said "Do not process classified information on this computer". However, since everything is basically classified "Secret", this is nearly universally ignored. At least with Field Grade (Majors and Colonels) down (I never saw any higher than that). Every day I saw tactical op orders, division planning, intel reports, maps on such computers. All of this on Internet connected, Symantec installed computers.
Granted, CIA and NSA data is probably walled of and, in fact, a lot of the data in the Army is on a different non-Internet network, but there is a TON of secret stuff on Internet connected computers. It's much worse in deployed areas like Iraq (I just got back). - JimV, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4For those who don't know, Norton Antivirus is not the only product that Symantec makes. Their corporate product ("Symantec Antivirus") is quite good, as it's pretty lean and easily deployable to large network.
- blankman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3this is what firewalls are for
- Kupotek, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2Technonoob, some good protection software for Windows:
Just my personal recommendations, hope they help.
I have 15 years in IT and alot of experience writing comparison studies
Update and run all tools weekly.
The best firewall is always going to be hardware
Software Firewall ---
Zone Alarm Suite decent firewall/AV combo
Antivirus ---
Avast Pro
Nod32
Spyware --
Adaware
Spybot
Counterspy
Defrag ---
Diskeeper Pro
O&O Defrag Pro
Utilities ---
Crapcleaner
Regseeker
Tune Up Utilities - badfishmedia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Wow, I thought they just slowed my computer down with multiple applications running to do two things. Now they also offer vulnerability?!?!?! What a bargain!!!
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2[b]No, sarcasm tags aren't allowed.[/b]
- Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Unless you live in the really-real world, where Symantec owns a considerable amount of marketshare, and is therefore among the top AV products purchased, meaning this affects a lot of people.
Symantec does a good job of brainwashing corporate brass that they are the solution to go with, who then tell the IT lackies "Deploy something good, like Norton. I don't want any of that other crap." - skatingrox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, their customers certainly got 'served' by their crap bloatware-disguised-as-products that crashes PC's every 5 minutes...
- Tanuki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I hate Symantec AntiVirus.
The vulnerability report doesn't say much. All we know is:
- Whichever AV component is vulnerable, listens on the network
- Whichever AV component is vulnerable, runs as SYSTEM (you can probably rule out ccApp.exe even though it listens on port 1094)
- Home versions are not affected, only Corporate Edition (you can probably rule out the real-time-scanning AV engine, and LiveUpdate)
- Consider what Corporate Edition has that the consumer edition does not: the management/admin services
I'm going to bet it's a flaw in the code implementing the remote-administrative functionality of the Corporate Edition client. Also it must be a buffer overflow in some administering interaction that does not require authentication or is before or during the authentication stage.
If Norton's respone last time (http://www.eeye.com/html/research/advisories/AD20040512D.html) is any indication, hackers have about 3 weeks from yesterday to repeat this 0-day. - greyrat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"eEye said it appeared consumer versions of Symantec's Norton Antivirus software -- sold at retail outlets around the country -- were not vulnerable to the flaw, though consumers who are provided Symantec's corporate edition antivirus software by their employers for use at home may be affected."
Heh. I like it. Corporate software bad. Home software good. - justice7, on 11/06/2007, -1/+2I am a Systems Technician / Administrator for a large city here in Canada.. so this isn't blowing out my ass or anything... but listen up.
rather than worrying so much about the small chance someone will exploit your copy of Symantec AntiVirus. ..
Systems Admin's should worry about the obvious -- Data theft, malicious users and improper configurations.
Have a solid firewall ruleset, backups and offsite backups done, secure passwords, educated staff in the case of social engineers trying to steal information .. and make sure you take the usual steps to stay up to date.
Truth be told, if someone wants your data badly enough.. they will probably get it. The only thing you can do is add an extra layer of security to an already existing sytem .. such as placing that data on its own network NOT connected to anything outside... where a standard lock and key / sneakernet is needed to access it.
Destruction of data is easily repaired... Theft of data isn't. - blablaman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2That's not exactly true. There is not really too much you can do for a 0-day exploit for instance, in which there is no preventative patch online and no real way to know that you've been exploited until too late. For most cases though, I agree with you, and even if you are compromised due to an exploit, there should be a patch right around the corner.
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Symantic has fallen...
Now let the FREE and more trust worthy AV Applications prevail! - technonoob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess what you don't know won't hurt you
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Symantec. No surprise there. One of the usual suspects.
I think these companies make broken software so they can sell new versions every year.
"This year, it is 'improved'!"
Btw, Apple fanboys... piss off! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Linux
- MongooseNX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 I'm not sure how big a deal this really is.
Maiffret's company works 24/7 to find vulnerabilites in other peoples software while marketing their own Intrusion prevention software. Of course they're going to look most closely at software that millions of people have; because for them it's millions of potential customers for their instrusion software.
I personally don't rely on my anti-virus software to prevent hackers from entering my computer/network, that's what my firewall, routers and snort are for. - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Top - as in sales. Sheesh.
It might be crap, but it's crap that sells to noobs. - toosas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it was known for quite some time already that symantec av is a crappy software. you can push through a trojan by changing the execs icon. as easy as that. the only hope for their users is a good firewall that doesn't rely on windows api.
- technonoob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For all of us nOObs, what are the top 5 virus protection apps?
- republicoftexas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Symantec Corp. may be the top, but is not the best. Anyone else use Kaspersky? I have been running it for several years without any problems at all. Russian made software.
- cwcheang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1okay let me guess....
stating the obvious? - gxp7891, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It could also be Rtvscan. It runs as Local System and listens on 2967. I don't have ccApp.exe, but the two other Symantec apps running as System don't listen on network ports (ccEvtMgr and ccSetMgr). Guess we wait and see. Last time I remember a similar remotely exploitable bug in security software, we had the Witty worm.
- wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yet another reason to make me happy I fired Symmantec. Bloatware, slow as hell, buggy, causes conflicts, and now is a security hole (although only in corporate edition).
NOD32 FTW - acariquara, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@pabster:
LOL - second that. - Jamesuknow59, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0one more then for your Firefox use Firekeeper as a IDS for your Firefox
- Jamesuknow59, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0
EDITED : !!
Agreed Norton sucks get over it gezzz..... and Kupotek I work a security professional who teaches me security and I agree with every statment made except the fact of using Zonealarm it has been exploited to much oh and dont forget a IDS system and a IP Blocker
IDS best there is Snort and IP Blocker is PeerGuardian 2 or use Blocklist Manager
and as far as the firewall goes if you not gonna use hardware then use Checkpoint Firewall cant afford it ? use Comodo Firewall
and I hate windows lol
and if you gonna use a browser dont touch IE use Mozilla Firefox - Jamesuknow59, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0Agreed Norton sucks get over it gezzz..... and Kupotek I work a security professional who teaches me security and I agree with every statment made except the fact of using Zonealarm it has been exploited to much oh and dont forget a IDS system and a IP Blocker
and as far as the firewall goes if you not gonna use hardware then use Checkpoint Firewall cant afford it ? use Comodo Firewall
IDS best there is Snort and IP Blocker is PeerGuardian 2 or use Blocklist Manager
and I hate windows lol
and if you gonna use a browser dont touch IE use Mozilla Firefox - gmoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0In todays sorry state of the malware infested internet it makes being on the internet for many noobs a pain in the ass. Companies like this just muddy the pathway to ultimately understanding your PC enough to prevent bad things from occurring on the machine.
I use a combination of winpatrol (free version) and ProcessGuard ($). If anything comes in through the door that I don’t like I can stop it. I know how everyone hates a program plug in these comments sections but I think knowledge helps people in general more so than an anti virus programs that show you a zillion messages. - JamesWilson, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Right.. the partners of First4Internet wouldn't intentionally put holes in their software.. no..not symantec..of course not.
- LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Sadly, my dad doesn't, and as a guy that used to work for IBM, I think that's a sad statement for him. I've been using AVG for the past 2 years, recently switching to Avast! because of some news that I heard on This Week in Tech a few months ago saying that it was better, and I've been virus free. There's a sense of happiness that comes with having a fuller bank account because I'm not paying for anti-virus and I'm keeping my computer clean and happy.
- lhenkel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Anyone care to guess the official Antivirus of the the US military? 0-Day in Iraq and the Pentagon would not be fun. Plus, almost no one I knew did backups.
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