New Symantec security hole
p2pnet.net news:- Hot on the heels of Norton Antivirus package debacle which disabled millions of Chinese computers, an unpatched flaw in Symantec’s anti-virus management console meant personal information about more than 45,000 students at the University of Colorado at Boulder was put at risk.
The university says a server in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Academic Advising Center, which had been recently attacked with a worm, exposed 44,998 student names and Social Security numbers.
“CU-Boulder IT security investigators on May 12 discovered that the worm entered the server through a vulnerability in its Symantec anti-virus software,” says the statement.
“That vulnerability had not been properly patched by Arts and Sciences Advising Center IT staff. CU-Boulder IT security investigators do not believe the hacker who launched the worm was seeking personal data, but rather was attempting to take control of the machine to allow it to infiltrate other computers both on-and-off the CU-Boulder campus.”
The story has CU-Boulder vice provost for technology Bobby Schnabel saying the server’s security settings weren’t properly configured and nor were its “sensitive data” fully protected.
“Through a combination of human and technical errors, these personal data were exposed, although we have no evidence that they were extracted,” he says.
Students needing more information can visit a special web site at www.colorado.edu/its/security/aac052007/.
Also See:
Antivirus package debacle – Symantec BSOD attack on China, May 21, 2007
University of Colorado at Boulder – CU-Boulder Arts And Sciences Server Hacked On May 12, May 22, 2007
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