Symantec fixes mail deletion flaw in security suite

Symantec Corp. has fixed a flaw in part of its Norton Internet Security 2003 security software suite that can cause e-mail to be deleted before it reaches a user’s inbox, Symantec said Friday.

Users had complained that Norton Internet Security 2003 was deleting e-mail. For such e-mail, all that appeared in the inbox was a message with “Symantec Email Proxy Deleted Message” in the subject line, said Katherine James, a Symantec spokeswoman in the U.K.

“We had a small number of users of Norton Internet Security 2003 who reported that the product was inadvertently deleting e-mails,” said Jones, adding that the first report came in on Oct. 14. Symantec issued a software patch to fix the flaw earlier this week.

The flaw lies in the antispam part of Norton Internet Security 2003, an Internet security suite that includes antivirus, firewall, privacy control, spam alert, and parental control software. The antispam feature is meant to flag any suspected spam, unwanted commercial e-mail, coming in to an inbox.

“If a user was running the computer continuously and was receiving a large volume of e-mail, or they had configured their e-mail client to check the mail server frequently, the Norton Spam Alert could cause memory allocation errors, which could cause the e-mail deletion,” said James.

Symantec believes only a small number of users have actually been affected by the flaw because of the small number of complaints. The Cupertino, California, company, however, won’t say how many customers complained or where those customers were located. Norton Internet Security 2003 is sold around the world.

Norton Internet Security 2003 users can download a patch that fixes the memory allocation error through the application’s online update feature, James said.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now