[ news_security_news ]
Sophos Fixes False Positive
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-02-24
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Security software firm Sophos recently had a breakthrough announcement with the discovery of virus concepts related to the OS X operating system for Apple Macs. The cure they offered in the form of a security update looks to have been worse than the disease.
Many critics came after Sophos after they announced the viruses for Mac and this incident added fuel to the fire. The update they issued earlier this week for the OSX/Inqtana-B worm showed false positives on the anti-virus scans, telling Mac users they may have been infected by the worm. The kicker is the Inqtana and its variants are all no obsolete. The only thing users got was a couple of days protection against a virus they probably weren't going to get.
They have corrected and updated the software but they also reiterated on their site the worm, as a real entity doesn't really exist. It was just a concept. It was a proven concept but still just a concept. They said on their site:
Unfortunately, this update was flawed, and Mac OS X users may have been mistakenly warned by Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X that some files on their computers were infected with the worm.
[…]
Sophos would like to remind customers that the OSX/Inqtana-B worm is not in-the-wild, and is unlikely to be encountered.
It is important to keep these attacks at bay. While the Inqtana virus threat was obviously minimal, it's only a matter of time before more, nastier viruses start spreading. While many Mac evangelists remind people that common sense behavior will protect the system, the same could be said for many of Window's problems as well. Make sure, despite the Sophos mistake, to keep security software updated as well as the operating system, browsers, etc., regardless of which computer or operating system you use.
Get all the updates - click this link: 
Add to | DiggThis| Yahoo My Web
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
More news_security_news Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
