Symantec Asks Users To Disable Their Products For Protection

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Symantec, one of the world's largest purveyors of "security software" asked its users to disable pcAnywhere, unless it is needed for business-critical use, because malicious users with access to the source code could identify vulnerabilities and launch new exploits.

Symantec has confirmed that the hacker group Anonymous stole source code from the 2006 versions of several Norton security products and the pcAnywhere remote access tool.

Although Symantec says the theft actually occurred in 2006, the issue did not come to light until this month when hackers related to Anonymous said they had the source code and would release it publicly. Users of the Norton products in question are not at any increased risk of attack because of the age of the source code and security improvements made in the years since the breach, but the vendor acknowledged on Tuesday night that "Customers of Symantec's pcAnywhere have increased risk as a result of this incident."

Symantec released a patch fixing three vulnerabilities in pcAnywhere version 12.5 (the current version) on Monday, and said it will continue issuing patches "until a new version of pcAnywhere that addresses all currently known vulnerabilities is released."

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