Symantec source code leak becomes torrent

Hacktivists once again poked fun at Symantec after previously leaked source code for Symantec's Norton Utilities 2006 software was made available as a torrent on Monday. Symantec downplayed the significance of the leak, saying it only involved obsolete code that had already been exposed. AntiSec tacked a mocking note onto the …

[wondermouse]

Shome mishtake surely?

"... together with an invitation for hackers everywhere to pour over the code..."

then bake in an oven at gas mark 6 for half an hour, before topping... er... themselves.

[heyrick]

Re: Shome mishtake surely?

Doubly funny after all the (sic)s in the quoted part at the top.

But, please do tell, pour (sic) over the code? Pour what over the code? Industrial strength detergent? Spirit vinegar? Freshly brewed coffee? Rancid milk? Beer? Enquiring minds (think they) want to know!

[Aaron Em]

Re: Shome mishtake surely?

Over Norton 2006? Hydrofluoric acid, one hopes --

[TeeCee]

Re: Shome mishtake surely?

Yes, we want to know. What is this magic liquid that you pour over code and it highlights all the flaws for you?

Sounds like a great timesaver to me.

[Peter Johnstone]

They were right about Norton killing performance.

I uninstalled Norton Antivirus after finding that after a fresh windows install, installing Norton doubled the boot up time of the machine that I had installed it on. Switched to MacAfee which was better at the time but has gone the same way.

One further thought; would I want to by security related software from a company that couldn't keep their own systems secure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: They were right about Norton killing performance.

I saw the same thing back in Win3.1 days, and with WinNT4 the performance hit became just too much to bear. Been using NOD32 for quite a few years now...

[HeloIT]

Re: They were right about Norton killing performance.

McAfee might be the only worse Antivirus... TrendMicro or ESETs ... AVG and AVAST are better then Norton and McAfee

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: They were right about Norton killing performance.

Just use MBP :D

[Anonymous Coward]

Why...

... should disclosure of the source code in any way constitute a security threat to their users? I fail to comprehend this. Unless it is a tacit admission that this "security" product is a steaming pile of poo with the porosity of a rusty colander?

Perhaps a good advert for ClamAV then?

[Will Godfrey]

Re: Why...

Although the actual code is probably unimportant, the algorithms used are another matter. These aren't likely to have changed much, and may reveal a logic error that could be exploited. If what Symantic does is wrong then who cares how they do it.

[Sureo]

Norton...

dragged kicking and screaming into the open source era.

[Ole Juul]

Re: Norton...

I'm still waiting for the Linux version to come out. My machine has been running a bit fast lately.

[Ilgaz]

Comparison

The entire current Linux is 76.2 MB. That is the kernel with massive amount of comments etc. Their application is 52.

(I picked latest rc)

[Quando]

Re: Comparison

Nice numbers but the norton (cr)app will have graphic assets in it, as they never could bear to use the OS defaults, so 80-90% of that size will be that. Or a mass of signatures baked into the code? Either way: data not code. Kernels are pure.

[HeloIT]

Pointless as Norton couldn't catch herpes at a Club Med

Norton is such a pathetic antivirus program. It doesn't catch anything and with McAfee are the 2 AVs most successfully thwarted by bugs. I hate to root for the bugs but Norton brings me there. We had Trend Micro which caught Conficker\DownAdup and usually 3 a month in our modest shop... As corporate forced us to Norton... we catch NOTHING! but they get reports and the one that pipes out tells us which PCs to clean with MALWAREBYTES!!! But it is all fun because a company, that deserves to be embarrassed and out of business, is getting some richly deserved bad press.

[Anonymous Coward]

All anti-virus software these days is more or less bloatware.

Personally, I just wrap a condom around my ethernet cable.

[Anonymous Coward]

Check for pinholes!

Your ethernet cable is pregnant and has been infected with AIDS.

[Anonymous Coward]

Move on

So back in 2006 some company doing some IT stuff had security breaches, that went unnoticed for a few years, I'm sure they have changed and that won't happen again.

It's not like they were selling "network threat protection" software is it.

Such a bunch of moaning ninnies on here, lighten up.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Pirate Bay owners headed for prison - again

They just don't learn nor does Anonymous. These folks must love the Iron Bar Hotel. Three hots and a cot...

[Anonymous C0ward]

Re: The Pirate Bay owners headed for prison - again

And it's this guy again, being about as original as that joke about airline food.

[chris lively]

I have an idea.

Someone should post a copy of that 6 year old code base to a torrent site and report it as news once every 6 or 9 months.

Snore.

[Anonymous Coward]

Clueless

Apparently Antisec don't realise that software code gets changed every few years and that finding obsolete code online is as easy as falsely claiming you hacked an FBI laptop and posted personal data online. These script-kiddies really aren't too bright.