Symantec Investigates Fresh Source Code ‘Leak’

Symantec is looking into claims more of its products’ source code has been leaked online, following a similar incident earlier this year.

Source code purportedly from Norton Utilities 2006 was placed on The Pirate Bay, with a message citing many familiar names, including Anonymous and AntiSec. The logo forthe latter was posted alongside the release.

Users will be hoping later versions of Utilities, which is designed to help users clean up their PC to make it run better, do not contain much of the same code as the 2006 edition.

Often, having source code pilfered is not problematic for vendors, as reverse engineering software to find vulnerabilities is a long and difficult process – something that hackers often steer clear of. When code for older products is not reused in more current, more widely-used software, the process can prove even more pointless for cyber criminals. Hacking into security companies’ infrastructure is unsurprisingly tricky too.

Investigation under way

But Symantec learned the hard way in January, when code of its pcAnywhere product was stolen. Subsequently, the security giant told users to temporarily stop using the remote access software as they were in danger of being hit from man-in-the-middle attacks and new exploits. It later emerged that the code was taken after a breach of Symantec servers that took place in 2006.

As for the fresh release, Symantec said it was investigating it. “Symantec is one of the most visible targets in the world for cyber attacks on a daily basis.  We take each and every claim very seriously and have a process in place for investigating each incident,” a spokesperson said, in an emailed statement sent to TechWeekEurope.

“Our first priority is to make sure that any customer information remains protected.  We are investigating these claims and have no further information to provide at this time. ”

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