Symantec Screwup Is 'Worse Than Any Virus'

[Humpty]

Don't want to turn this into a "bash Symantec" thread as even Windows Updates have played havoc with some computers.

A routine update from Symantec Security Response wreaked havoc on a California company's clientele this week when it inadvertently tagged a program produced by Solid Oak Software as a virus and cut off the Internet access of Solid Oak customers.

 

Symantec on Monday released a virus definition update that incorrectly identified Solid Oak's CyberSitter filtering program as a virus. Depending on the version of Symantec's Norton Antivirus product that Solid Oak customers were running, CyberSitter files were either deleted or banned from use by Norton, according to Solid Oak.

 

On Friday, a Symantec spokesman said that the company had issued a fix.

 

Before that, however, Solid Oak customers including schools, libraries and personal accounts, were not provided with a recovery mechanism and subsequently lost Internet access. Solid Oak did not have an exact number of those affected, but it likely numbers in the tens of thousands, according to a spokeswoman.

 

Customers have had to re-install entire operating systems and software, she said.

 

Symantec contacted Solid Oak on Wednesday and "under pressure from Solid Oak," set up a technical support number for customers to call, Solid Oak said.

 

That number, however, is no longer in service. When PC Magazine called it on Thursday evening, it directed callers to the Norton customer service Web site, which provides standard fixes to common problems but does not address the problem facing Solid Oak customers.

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