McAfee software bug could turn customers' PCs into spam servers – Firstpost

Anti-virus software maker McAfee warned that a flaw in one of its products could make customers’ PCs vulnerable to attacks in which hackers used their … Anti-virus software maker McAfee warned that a flaw in one of its products could make customers’ PCs vulnerable to attacks in which hackers used their computers to distribute spam. McAfee spokesman Ian Bain said t least one customer had fallen victim to such an attack, which leveraged a flaw in a service offering known as McAfee SaaS for Total Protection. While the flaw could enable hackers to send spam from machines of McAfee SaaS for Total Protection customers, it does not grant them access to data on an affected PC, Bain said. In April 2010, a glitch included in a regular release of McAfee’s anti-virus software mistakenly identified part of Microsoft Corp’s popular Windows XP operating system as a virus, triggering personal computer outages at many of its customers, including more than 100 large corporations.