What's New: Symantec Finds Y2K10 Bug Updating Virus Definitions

Symantec confirmed a "Y2K10" bug of sorts that prevents updated virus definitions from being installed on PCs. The issue primarily affects Symantec Endpoint Protection, their corporate antivirus software, and does not affect their Norton AntiVirus retail line. Currently Symantec has adopted a workaround of continuing to issue virus definitions dated 12/31/2009, and incrementing the revision number instead of the date. However, this may cause some false warnings to end users that their definitions are out of date, depending on their company's settings.

Symantec acknowledged the problem was with an incorrect comparison of version numbers using a YMMDDRRR format, where 100101345 appears less than 91231345 because "1" is less than "9." The problem code was in the automatic cleanup section so new virus definitions would be downloaded and immediately discarded.

Symantec expects they will be able to issue an update for their server component that will resolve the problem, but currently has provided no ETA.

Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010 11:48 am CST

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