McAfee shoots itself in the enterprise foot

Filed under: Security

Ask most computer techs or power users which virus programs you should avoid, and the big two retail boxed options -- Norton and McAfee -- will usually be the first two words out of their mouths. In the enterprise, however, the situation is very different. Symantec and McAfee still have pretty strong reputations and a loyal customer base.

In McAfee's case, however, that reputation took a pretty big hit today thanks to a major false positive. As you've probably read elsewhere by now, the updated .dat file wrongly placed svchost.exe in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger -- rendering tens of thousands of corporate machines dead in the water.

Yes, McAfee has released a fix -- but it's one that has be applied hands-on at each affected computer. That's going to create serious pains-in-the-ass for loads of admins and technicians around the globe -- and pissed off admins are never averse to switching software when it decides to create a titanic load of extra work for them.

So what will the aftermath be? Does this gaffe put McAfee's corporate product in the same boat as their consumer product?

If you're an admin who was affected by the update, have you decided it's time to look for a replacement?

McAfee shoots itself in the enterprise foot originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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