symantec

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The journey to the heart of the operation reminded me of the late '60s TV show "Get Smart," where one heavily fortified door leads to another locked entryway followed by more complicated defenses in a seemingly never ending series of entry points requiring PINs, badges, and irises or fingers scans. I balked at the DNA test. Joking. Actually, I was just along for the exclusive tour, flanked by a group of engineers and executives with high-level security clearances.

This is the belly of Symantec's Certificate Authority operations, where the company creates digital certificates … Read more

Symantec's CEO Enrique Salem stepped down today after the company's board of directors designated chairman of the board Steve Bennett as the new president and CEO.

This executive switch-over comes as the security software giant reported an abysmal year for revenue -- second-quarter growth was just 1 percent to $1.67 billion, and profits decreased by 10 percent to $172 million, according to Bloomberg.

"Enrique Salem has been a significant contributor during his 19 years' associated with Symantec, including the last three years as CEO," Bennett said in a statement. "While progress has been made … Read more

A recent update to Symantec's antivirus software rendered some Windows-based PCs inoperable, the security software maker disclosed Friday.

An update earlier in the week to Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1 antivirus software for businesses caused some Windows XP-based computers to crash repeatedly with a "blue screen of death," the company revealed on its Web site.

"On July 11th, 2012 Symantec Security Response started receiving reports of customers experiencing blue screens after applying the July 11th revision 18 definitions," Orla Cox, of Symantec Security Response, wrote in the post. "Machines may continue to blue screen … Read more

Over the last few weeks, companies around the globe have been reporting that their print servers are emptying paper trays by printing endless pages of meaningless characters. Symantec now says malware may be to blame.

Dubbed Trojan.Milicenso, the malware targets Windows-based computers and can spread through malicious e-mail attachments or visiting Web sites hosting malicious scripts, including fake codecs, Symantec said in a blog post yesterday. It has infected computers primarily in the U.S. and India, but also in Brazil, the U.K. and other countries in Europe and South America.

"Our telemetry data has shown the … Read more

The infamous Flame virus can delete files from a computer and is likely the cause of a cyberattack against Iran in April, according to new findings.

Flame was originally identified for its ability to steal data and capture information from keystrokes, PC displays, and audio conversations.

But a new component of Flame uncovered by security firm Symantec gives its operators the power to delete important files from compromised computer systems, Symantec researcher Vikram Thakur revealed yesterday.

Such power means that the virus can disrupt critical software and "completely disable operating systems," Reuters reported based on Thakur's findings.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Symantec detailed some of the dirty secrets of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ threats at its annual reviewers' workshop here today, and revealed a planned project to protect you from social networking manipulators.

The project from Norton Labs, currently called Norton App Advisor, combines Norton's Safe Web data with social network open API data to provide a safety rating for apps. It aims to prevent malicious apps that prey on your social network activity from collecting data on you and your friends, which Symantec representatives said was a major security concern.

"Social networks have a trust model built … Read more

He rocketed to privacy stardom over two decades ago with the release of PGP, the first widely available program that made it easy to encrypt e-mail. Now Phil Zimmermann wants to do the same thing for phone calls.

Zimmermann's new company, Silent Circle, plans to release a beta version of an iPhone and Android app in late July that encrypts phone calls and other communications. A final version is scheduled to follow in late September.

This time around, Zimmermann is facing not the possibility of prison time on charges of violating encryption export laws, but a more traditional challenge: … Read more

The infamous Flame virus can infect even secure PCs by tricking them into believing its malicious payload is actually an update from Microsoft.

As we already know, Flame has gained traction by tapping into security certificates for Microsoft's Terminal Server. Though they appear to be digitally signed by Microsoft, the certificates are actually cooked up by the people behind Flame, thereby tricking PCs into accepting them as legitimate.

Microsoft and Symantec revealed yesterday that the virus can up the ante by using the fake certificates to spoof Microsoft's own Windows Update service. As such, Windows PCs could receive … Read more

When it comes to anti-malware and security software for OS X, while tools like ClamXav and the recently released Sophos home edition for OS X are popular free options, another package that has fallen off the radar has been the relatively lightweight iAntivirus utility.

iAntivirus was originally developed by PC Tools in 2008 as a free Mac-specific antivirus tool, but the project did not last long and the latest version (1.36) was released in 2009 with no further updates. This has resulted in iAntivirus losing its relevance as a valid anti-malware tool for OS X users, and PC Tools … Read more