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Symantec now admits to cyber attack on code in 2006

An older version of the source code created for Symantec's anti-virus and other software security products came directly from Symantec's own servers, rather than from a third party as the company previously had stated a few days ago.

According to a story on Reuters, a Symantec spokesperson said that the source code was obtained back in 2006 for a number of the company's software products. The company currently has no information on how the source code was obtained. It's also not known why it took five years for this issue to resurface.

The source code products included Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton Utilities, Norton GoBack and pcAnywhere. Symantec said that, with one exception, any release of the source codes of these products on the Internet are no threat to any of its customers that are running the current versions of these software products.

The one exception is the pcAnywhere product which Symantec admits to a slight issue with security. A spokesperson said, "Symantec is currently in the process of reaching out to our pcAnywhere customers to make them aware of the situation and to provide remediation steps to maintain the protection of their devices and information."

Last week a hacker group known as the The Lords of Dharmaraja released the source code for the 2006 version of Norton Utilities. The group said they were going to release the source code for Norton Antivirus on Tuesday but so far there's no indication that has happened yet.

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