Symantec acknowledges flaws

Security software company Symantec has acknowledged that flaws in some of its anti-virus products could allow hackers to use denial-of-service attacks to crash systems running the software.

PC World reports Symantec has patched the vulnerabilities in the 2004 and 2005 editions of Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton System Works. The company has also distributed software updates to users of the LiveUpdate automatic update service, but warns that systems that remain unpatched could be susceptible to remote attack through e-mail or the Web.

Symantec says the risk is low and it is unaware of any adverse customer impact from the vulnerabilities, but still advises customers to run LiveUpdate for any affected products until all available product updates are downloaded and installed.

Microsoft has completed the first major update to its Windows Server 2003 operating system and released it for download, reports News.com.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 includes security enhancements similar to those added to Windows XP with Service Pack 2, notably a built-in firewall, a security configuration wizard and a tool for automated machine lock down. Another feature helps protect a newly installed server by closing most of its ports until it has been fully patched.

The report says Microsoft is using the Windows Server 2003 SP1 code base as the starting point for the next desktop version of Windows (Longhorn) scheduled to arrive next year.

AMD is to release details next month on its answer to Intel`s Virtualisation Technology with the publication of its AMD64 platform`s virtualisation system spec, reports The Register.

Dubbed Pacifica, the technology will allow AMD`s 64-bit server, desktop and mobile processors to host multiple operating systems or many instances of the same operating system at the same time.

AMD says Pacifica will be implemented by introducing a new model and features into the processor and memory controller of its AMD64 CPUs. Pacifica will be applied to both single- and dual-core processors due for release early 2006.