Serious vulnerabilities have been recently discovered in many of the security software programs of Symantec, which also makes Norton security software.  People rely on their security software to keep them safe and so this discovery, which was initially made by researcher Tavis Ormandy, is particularly disturbing to people who rely on their security software to protect their computers and other electronic devices from attack.  Most of the flaws identified by Ormandy are in the Decomposer component of the Symatec antivirus engine.  Problems with vulnerabilities in security software are not limited to Symantec and Norton. Flaws have been found in the security software of many other companies as well.  This year alone, according to the intelligence firm Risk Based Security, 222 vulnerabilities have been identified in security software programs.  Part of the problem is that security software vendors too often use older code in their products that is not properly subjected to security reviews and testing.

TIPS

Fortunately, Symantec has already issued security patches for these vulnerabilities and users of Norton products should have had their security software automatically updated.  Here is a link to the announcement from the Department of Homeland Security describing these problems with Symantec and Norton products along with links to information about updating your security software.  https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2016/06/29/Symantec-Releases-Security-Updates

As always, it is important to make sure that you have security software on all of your electronic devices and that you update that software, preferably automatically whenever new updates become available. Scammers and hackers rely on people delaying the updating of their security software and take advantage of this fact to attack the computers of those who fail to take these necessary precautions in a timely fashion.