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Warns pcAnywhere users they face increased risk, confirms theft of source code of prominent consumer programs

Computerworld - Symantec today backed away from earlier statements regarding the theft of source code of some of its flagship security products, now admitting that its own network was compromised.

In a statement provided to the Reuters news service, the security software giant acknowledged that hackers had broken into its network when they stole source code of some of the company's software.

Previously, Symantec had denied that its own network had been breached, and instead pointed fingers at an unnamed "third party entity" as the attack's victim. Evidence posted by a hacker nicknamed "Yama Tough" -- a self-proclaimed member of a gang calling itself "Lords of Dharmaraja" -- indicated that the information was obtained from a server operated by the Indian government.

Two weeks ago, Symantec spokesman Cris Paden said that the hacker made off with source code of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Antivirus 10.2, enterprise products between five and six years old.

At the time, Paden downplayed the seriousness of the theft.

Today, however, Paden said that source code of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton Utilities, Norton GoBack and pcAnywhere, had been stolen.

By Gregg Keizer

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223495/Symantec_backtracks_admits_own_network_hacked?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2012-01-17

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