Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus source code exposed by hackers

Symantec, the makers of Norton AntiVirus, has confirmed that a hacking group has gained access to some of the security product’s source code.

An Indian hacking group, calling itself the Lords of Dharmaraja, has threatened to publicly disclose the source code on the internet.

So far, there have been two claims related to Symantec’s source code.

First, a document claiming to be confidential information related to Norton AntiVirus’s source code was posted on Pastebin. Symantec says it has investigated the claim, and that – rather than source code – it was documentation dated from April 1999 related to an API (application programming interface) used by the product.

And secondly, the hacking group shared source code related to what appears to have been the 2006 version of Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus product with…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.