McAfee Update Breaks Hundreds Of Apps

[kurth]

InformationWeek / March 13, 2006
McAfee Update Breaks Hundreds Of Apps
By Gregg Keizer

For over five hours Friday, McAfee's anti-virus software erroneously flagged hundreds of legitimate executables as a malicious virus, leading some customers to quarantine or delete the offending files and render applications such as Microsoft Excel inoperative.

An error in McAfee's daily virus definition file (dubbed "DAT") identified the files as W95/CTX, a virus first discovered in 2004. All editions of McAfee's on-demand-scanning products, including both the enterprise and consumer versions of VirusScan, were affected.

Among the legitimate files painted as malware were Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet, Adobe's Flash, the Google Toolbar installer, several Adaptec drivers, and parts of Sun Microsystems' Java Runtime Environment. The list that McAfee posted of the affected files numbers more than 330, but even so, the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center called it incomplete.

Depending on how users had configured VirusScan, the harmless files were either quarantined to a special folder or deleted. In either case, applications were broken as files were moved or erased from hard drives...

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181503325

[mzteris]

1. I had the DAT

problem - but I figured there was something fishy when all those files just suddenly turned up as "infected".

Their website explained there was a problem with the old DAT file - but I'm ticked there wasn't an email or something. Then - when I tried to update my DAT file it kept saying I was up-to-date when I obviously wasn't (the version #'s were different.) I had to manually download the update and replace my DAT file and then rerun scan where everything was clean.

BOY am I glad I didn't delete any files!!

[onehandle]

2. Sucks to use Windoze...

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Here here

switched to Apple 3 years ago. Like they say "Once you go Apple, you'll never go back".

[DainBramaged]

10. Why do you Applefanatics ALWAYS find the need to hassle us

The best revenge is you folks now use Intel processors. So someday when you HAVE to unload your rotten Apple, Intel will be there.

Bite the worm.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Exactly how was I hassling you?

I responded to a poster who had a bad taste about Microsoft in his mouth. I didn't respond to you. Didn't tell you why YOU should use Apple. You decided to hassle because I said Apple. Use what you want, I don't care. I stated my opinion (p.s. 1st amendment still guarantees this).

[IChing]

8. by the way I just downloaded the new security update on my powerbook

which fixed security issues ...."don't get cocky kid" (star wars) but i still love my apple.

Apple corrects patch trouble

Apple Computer on Monday released the second set of Mac OS X security fixes in two weeks.

Security Update 2006-002 corrects problems caused by the company's previous patch and fixes newly discovered security flaws, some of which could let an attacker run code on a computer with the same privileges as the user, the company said on its Web site.

"This Security Update includes some upgrades to our download validation mechanism and strengthens it," Bud Tribble, Apple's vice president of software technology, told CNET News.com. "We reduced the number of false positives it gives."

Earlier this month Apple released a security update for its operating system to plug 20 holes. That update added download validation to the Safari Web browser, Apple Mail client and iChat instant-messaging tool. The function warns people that a download could be malicious when they click on the link.
snip>>>>> http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-6049207.html?part=rss&tag=6049207&subj=news

[Renew Deal]

13. Bullshit

Don't act like this has never happened with a Mac. Apple has done the same sort of stuff. Also, this was a problem with a 3rd party app.

[onehandle]

16. Oh, yeah. I forgot.

That time sometime in the last 22 years that an update to fight the Millions of viruses that plague the Mac broke Hundreds of Apps.

Wait...When was that?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. That anti-virus, became a virus itself. I had McAfee from AOL and hated it

It's a memory hog.

[Gman]

4. Three letters

AVG

[BulletproofLandshark]

5. Yep, good choice.

My Norton subscription just ran out and I immediately downloaded AVG in it's place. For the uninitiated, not only is there an excellent free version, but it seems to be a lot less bloated than Norton. For those that may wish to download:

For Windows users http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

For Linux users http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/lng/us/tpl/v5

A friend of mine uses Avast. He thinks that's pretty good too.

[Gman]

6. I ran Norton and AVG side by side for quite a while

and found no difference in what they found and protected. Norton Firewall is useless with the XP firewall. AVG Free has no firewall or adware protection, but we use Firefox on all computers here and have no adware problems. I've been using AVG on this laptop since I first got it in November and the Virus Vault is empty. I get nothing significant when I run Adaware (most likely because of Firefox). And we also use Thunderbird on all computers. (Of course, the good protection at the Roadrunner firewall helps a lot too.) I have no admin worries in this house even with a teenager.

[high density]

9. I shitcanned McAfee a few months ago for free avast! scanner

and I have been very pleased. It runs much more efficiently on an old computer of mine than McAfee Viruscan.

[BlackVelvet04]

11. Is that what happened to my

system 32 hal.dll file that crashed my OS?

[Renew Deal]

14. Enterprise users should ditch McAfee and move to Trend.

Why? Because McAfee lost the right to be on computers because of this.

[agincourt]

15. I quit using McAfee,

when it's DOS scan would lock up my Pentium 2. That was 5 years ago, the anti-virus is supposed to help keep your system acessable not the other way around.