Gloves come off in Symantec, Microsoft dispute
101385
Legal dispute over storage patent is about to get going in earnest, part of a wider skirmish over security software turf.
348717
THE DEAL: Symantec Corp., best known for its Norton-branded software that fights computer viruses, is heading in a new direction with a $13.5 billion acquisition of data storage and backup specialist Veritas Software Corp.
279522
Symantec Corp.  said on  Thursday it filed a petition with the U.S. Tax Court over an  IRS demand that the security software maker pay &#36;1.06 billion  in back taxes and penalties related to its affiliate.
439154
The war of words between antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab and rival Rising Tech, has intensified with a defamation lawsuit.
262318
A software developer whose program was accidentally labeled a threat is considering action against the antivirus company.
58499
(InfoWorld) - When Windows Vista ships next year, customers might have a tougher time getting their security software to work properly, executives from Symantec said Wednesday. At issue are two new features being introduced with Vista: an enhanced Windows Security Center as well as a feature in the 64-bit version of Vista called PatchGuard. Microsoft says it is adding these features to lock down the operating system, but Symantec believes that they will be harmful to customers by making it harder for them to use third-party software. "There's no question that they're leveraging a monopolistic position to limit customer choice," said Chris Paden a Symantec spokesman. While Symantec executives did accuse Microsoft of being more difficult to work with on Vista than with previous operating system introductions, they stopped short of accusing Microsoft of antitrust violations. "It's not anti-competitive behavior, because Vista hasn't even hit the market yet, " Paden said. Security vendors like Symantec are in a state of heightened sensitivity these days as they've begun to compete with Microsoft head-on, and the specter of further antitrust actions looms over Microsoft's every move in the security space. Last week the European Union's spokesman on competition, Jonathan Todd, warned that theÂ market could be threatenedÂ if Microsoft doesn't allow security vendors a fair chance of competing. Symantec and other security vendors dislike PatchGuard because it prevents them from accessing the Windows kernel. They say it will stop them from delivering important features like Symantec's "anti-tampering" technology, which prevents malicious programs from modifying Symantec's own software. PatchGuard will also make it more difficult for security vendors to protect against malicious software that takes advantage of kernel-level bugs, said Eric Sites, vice president of research and development with Sunbelt Software. "There are a lot of new exploits coming out that exploit kernel-level drivers, " he said. "If we're able to get into the kernel, we can watch for things like that, but with what Microsoft is doing we can't do that." Microsoft declined to be interviewed for this article, but in an interview with IDG News last week a Microsoft executive said that PatchGuard was simply an effort toÂ prevent the kernel from being misused. "We think that there's a significant amount of confusion around... certain security features in the product that we think raise the foundation," said Stephen Toulouse a senior product manager in the Security Technology Unit. "What we're doing is we're walling off the kernel from attackers, because the functionality that is currently there was never meant to be used by anybody -- by software vendors or attackers." But PatchGuard is enabled only in the 64-bit version of Windows. Because there are few 64-bit applications written for Vista, most of Vista's initial users are expected to run the operating system in 32-bit mode, and their security software will still be able to access the kernel. A more immediate issue for Symantec is many Vista users will find that both the Windows Security Center and Symantec warnings will pop up simultaneously. This doesn't happen with Windows XP because Symantec's software is able to automatically disable the Windows warnings, but with Vista users will have to turn off the Security Center themselves. This will make things unnecessarily complicated for many customers, said Rowan Trollope, Symantec's vice president of consumer engineering. "Most users can't figure out how to do that," he said. With two warnings popping up, each with different wording, users will be confused at best, and may simply begin ignoring security warnings altogether, said Sites. Some observers have speculated that Symantec may press the EU for action against Microsoft in this matter, but Trollope and Paden wouldn't say what Symantec planned to do to address these problems. "We're looking at all the possibilities now," said Trollope, "And none of them are good for customers."ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
31517
Homer Simpson-style rage attack A sys admin last week pleaded guilty to attempting to disrupt the power grid in California by shutting down a data centre that managed the state's electrical supply.â¦
68513
Software giant battles activation of unauthorized copies of its new Vista OS.
605086
Symantec, McAfee hope raising virus-definition fees will move users to   suites.
145780
Symantec&#39;s Security Response has issued a warning about three new &quot;serious&quot; vulnerabilities discovered in the Windows operating system.
72930
Executives from Symantec on Wednesday strongly criticized Microsoft for locking down access to the Windows kernel in the upcoming Vista, though they stopped short of accusing the company of an antitrust violation.
259263
Symantec - an IT security company - warned on Wednesday that computers running Microsoft Windows XP can be infected by a new Trojan horse, even though it is patched with Microsoft&#39;s latest Service Pack 2.
679686
(InfoWorld) - Symantec Corp. has filed suit against an alleged software piracy ring, that has been in operation in North America since late 2003, the software vendor claims. The lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeks more than US$15 million in damages from a network of U.S. and Canadian businesses that are alleged to have sold counterfeit versions of Symantec's products, including Norton AntiVirus, pcAnywhere and Veritas Backup Exec. These companies and their affiliates run a global counterfeit organization that focuses on the U.S. and Canada, Symantec said. The businesses, which operated under eight different names, including Sili Inc., Advanced Sales Productivity Solutions Inc. and GT Micro, used spam and online advertising to offer Symantec's software at cut-rate prices, said Cris Paden, a Symantec spokesman. Customers who paid for the software would then be sent disks with Symantec's logo, wrapped in plain white sleeves. The disks, which came without documentation, would not install or work properly and could also include malicious software that would then be used to steal sensitive information from the purchaser's computer, Paden said. Symantec began investigating the matter in early 2004, when it started receiving complaints from customers who had bought the bad software, Paden added. "The people who bought these disks thinking they were from Symantec would come to our customer service," he said. One of the Sili Web sites named in Symantec's complaint, Sle-business.com, http://www.sle-business.com/Product%20List.htm Norton AntiVirus 2006. That product typically sells for about $20. Sle-business.com's Web site also offers software from McAfee Inc., Intuit Inc., Corel Corp. and Webroot Software Inc., among others. Sili representatives could not be reached immediately for comment. Symantec has worked with police to seize more than 100,000 copies of counterfeit disks, but Paden did not know if criminal charges would be forthcoming in the case. "We are working with law enforcement," he said. "I can't tell you who because if I did that would tip our hands to the extent of our investigation." Like many other vendors, Symantec has become more aggressive in its fight against unauthorized copying. In 2002, Symantec was losing about $500 million per year to software piracy, but it has now reduced those losses to less than $50 million per year, he said. Customers who are worried that they may be buying phony software online should make sure they are actually giving their credit-card information over a secure Web site, Paden said. That means that when they are asked to enter a credit-card number, the Web address should begin with https://, and there should be a locked padlock displayed near the address to indicate that the browser is visiting a secure site. "That's the smoking gun as to whether you're dealing with a legitimate outfit or not," Paden said. "99 percent of the time these guys don't use this."ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
401970
Symantec, McAfee hope raising virus-definition fees will move users to suites.
505477
SAN FRANCISCO - A computer worm is attacking some business PCs through a flaw in antivirus software by Symantec Corp., a security company warned Friday.
163279
Cisco Systems and Microsoft are headed for a collision over network security, with customers caught in the middle. The two companies have each proposed competing &quot;end to end&quot; security architectures, marking
227505
SHENZHEN, China  - More than $500 million worth of  pirated software, including counterfeit Microsoft and Symantec  products, has been seized in a long-running joint probe by  Chinese police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation,  officials from both countries said on Tuesday.