SiD Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 Panda users had a bad hair day on Wednesday, after the Spanish security software firm released an update that classified components of its own technology as malign. As a result, enterprise PCs running the antivirus software tied themselves in something of a knot, leaving some systems either unstable or unable to access the internet. A Panda spokesman confirmed the problem while advising that the issue was well in hand. "A bad update was published temporarily today [Wednesday] that resulted in some system files being detected by the Panda engine, a replacement update was promptly published removing the error and restoring the wrongly quarantined files," a Panda representative told El Reg. "At present we recommend NOT rebooting systems. This will allow us to update the system with the amended update. This update will also restore files previously detected," he added. An official advisory on the problem says that the issue was limited to Panda Cloud Office Protection, Retail 2015 products and Panda Free AV. Users are strongly advised not to restart their computer until a fix is available. El Reg heard about the Panda slip-up via a tip from reader Austin, who ought to be excused claiming overtime on the back of the problem. "Dozens of installs of Panda Antivirus across multiple sites all just detected components of itself as a virus, simultaneously," Austin explained. "Perhaps 60 in total across five sites, out of an installed base of around 300." "If you let it disinfect 'the problem' with a reboot, you have no network access post-reboot." "Files we've seen 'detected' include psanmodrep.dll and alertsmanager.dll – both key components of Panda Antivirus itself," he added. Users of Panda's antivirus took to Twitter to air their woes. Any of you with Panda Anti Virus - DO NOT REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER!!!! @Panda_Security for updates- I've just lost 20 computers Worst antivirus every. Panda has today wiped files from system32 leaving rebooted computers bricked. Do not reboot, update Panda. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/11/panda_antivirus_update_self_pwn/ It's the one time you'll hear IT warn you not to "turn it off and on again." An update to a number of Panda antivirus programs Wednesday mistakenly flagged core files as malware, putting them in quarantine. In doing so, the antivirus system ceased working. First reported by The Register, machines are left unstable, or unable to access the Internet. Panda's free antivirus, retail 2015 service, and its enterprise cloud-based antimalware service are all affected. It's not clear how many machines are affected. The company took to Twitter to warn users: "Please, Don't reboot PCs. We'll keep you posted." In an advisory, Panda said the erroneous signature file was "repaired immediately," but warned under certain conditions it is possible for the "incident to persist." It's not the first time an antimalware service has mistakenly classified core files as malware. In 2010, McAfee accidentallydeleted a crucial Windows XP file, leaving millions of machines bricked. Last month, Google-owned VirusTotal teamed up with a number of companies, including Microsoft, to reduce the number of false-flags in its antivirus products. http://www.zdnet.com/article/panda-antivirus-mistakenly-flags-itself-as-malware-breaks-pcs/ lul. 5+ years. No antivirus protection other than malwarebytes and superantispyware. G'damn that has to suck. Quote
audrey Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 that damn malwarebytes, i never hated anything more than malwarebytes Quote
SiD Posted March 12, 2015 Author Posted March 12, 2015 Why would you hate malwarebytes? It's probably the most useful thing I've ever used when it comes to finding rogue spyware. 1 Quote
audrey Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 Why would you hate malwarebytes? It's probably the most useful thing I've ever used when it comes to finding rogue spyware. This one time, it quarantined all the cracks and saves of all the games I and my brothers play. We lost EVERYTHING lol 3 Quote
SiD Posted March 12, 2015 Author Posted March 12, 2015 lmfao! Okay, yeah, that sucks. Been there. Though usually with mcafee/norton/avast. I think it was mcafee that just auto quarantined everything without my permission. f*** that. MWB does have an 'are you sure you want to quarantine this' button though. Nublet. Hah. Quote
audrey Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 Oh oh, but I quarantined, malwarebytes asked and I sad YESS I can never say no to malwarebytes 1 Quote
CaRaNo Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 I can never say no to malwarebytes malwarebytes is my real name .... sooooo how about a date XD 2 Quote
audrey Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 malwarebytes is my real name .... sooooo how about a date XD ahhw prob you so smooth No. 4 Quote
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