On Saturday, a faulty update for 64-bit Windows systems caused the BitDefender anti-virus software to flag thousands of legitimate Windows and BitDefender files as potential threats to the system. According to an article by Brian Krebs, “Bad BitDefender Antivirus Update Hobbles Windows PCs,” the glitch caused quite a stir with users who expressed their concerns on the antivirus firm’s Twitter page.
BitDefender later issued a statement to users saying it was creating a patch that would restore the quarantined files. The company also posted a partial recovery for users to follow, but that was met with more disconcerting Tweet’s from users saying that after following the instructions they were still unable to boot up their computers.
To make matters worse, BitDefender has also reportedly warned users that malware writers are issuing fake downloads that fix the problem. The company is advising users to download the fix only from its website.
This story appears to be another example of the escalating problems antivirus solutions are experiencing with bad system updates. The inability to effectively stop malicious code from exploiting system vulnerabilities is causing more work and frustrations for security professionals and users, alike. Including application whitelisting as part of a company’s endpoint security strategy not only prevents malicious code from executing, but also eliminates the risks that can accompany updates.
Ahhhh, you guys are trying to make it EASY on everybody. Great! And then WHAT are we gonna do with all that extra spare time and money we save? Have you thought about that? We’ll actually have time for the wife and kids? for leisure? for other pursuits? How are we going to explain the lack of overtime to our IT security team? They depend on that heavy workload! It’s in our budget and already allocated!