__/ [ BearItAll ] on Tuesday 22 May 2007 13:23 \__
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Symantec "false positive" crunches thousands of Chinese Windows XP PCs
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | The Chinese Internet Security Response Team (CISRT) have now dubbed
>> | May 18 as "Black Friday" and called it a horrible day. Although the
>> | problem only affected the "simplified Chinese" version of Windows
>> | XP, Chinese reports are that around 7,000 users were affected when
>> | the anti-virus software deleted the two files. When users rebooted
>> | their PCs, they were greeted with the "blue screen of death".
>> `----
>>
>> http://techlogg.com/content/view/180/1/
>>
>
> I always thought that was a major risk. But the major problem here isn't
> that they was a bug, the problem here is that it look like virus fixes go
> out without a proper test. Had it been tested then it would have deleted
> these files on the test machine. It seems that the users didn't know of the
> problem until a reboot, but I would have thought that a reboot testing
> anti-v software was essencial at all times.
>
> It is hard enough persuading users to keep their anti-virus onboard,
> because of how much it slows down their PCs, but if they start to lose
> interest in anti-virus because the anti-virus software itself can not be
> trusted, then the last obtion of MS security is gone.
>
> I know anti-virus have to be quick off the mark, but not so quick that they
> are a greater threat than the virus.
I have seen (and handled) cases where AV software broke various
functionalities of the O/S in one way or another. Some puzzled people can
remain mystifies (and stuck) for days and weeks before seeing a
'professional'.
--
~~ Best regards
Roy S. Schestowitz | "I blame God for making me an atheist"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
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