[ISN] McAfee apologizes for antivirus update disaster

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:42:19 -0500 (CDT)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20003247-83.html

By Lance Whitney
Security
CNet News
April 23, 2010

It's been a rough week for McAfee, but an even rougher one for many of 
its customers.

Acknowledging the chaos it caused by pushing out a buggy antivirus 
update on Wednesday, McAfee apologized to its customers in the form of a 
late-night blog on Thursday.

Barry McPherson, executive vice president of support and customer 
service, issued the apology on behalf of McAfee, saying the company was 
sorry for the headaches it caused for so many customers.

At 6 a.m. PDT Wednesday, the company released a faulty update to its 
antivirus software that hosed computers running Windows XP with Service 
Pack 3. The update, a DAT file, misidentified a key Windows file called 
svchost.exe as a virus, causing PCs to crash or keep rebooting. The 
problem affected customers worldwide, including chipmaker Intel, Rhode 
Island hospitals, Kentucky police, University of Michigan's medical 
school, and an Australian supermarket chain

In response, McAfee staffers have been working around the clock to help 
customers get their systems back online, McPherson said. The company 
believes most impacted PCs are back up.

[...]


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Received on Sun Apr 25 2010 - 22:42:19 PDT

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