An antivirus service used by tens of thousands of businesses and millions of home users shut down an untold number of computers around the world Monday after it mistakenly identified core parts of Microsoft Windows as threats, the company confirmed.
Webroot Inc. of Broomfield, Colorado, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But it confirmed on its support forum for customers that it issued an updated detection rule that "identified false positives" for critical Windows operating files Monday afternoon, resulting in those files' being "quarantined" and inaccessible to Windows.
@SwiftOnSecurity, an anonymous but well-respected tech security Twitter account, reported that it appeared that the rule somehow allowed genuine "signed Microsoft files to be removed."
The rule was distributed and applied by Webroot systems around the globe for about 13 minutes, the company said — long enough for businesses, users and administrators to find their files unavailable. Webroot reported serving about 30 million customers last year.
"The rule was removed and we are in the process of rolling back all of the false positives that reside in the Webroot Threat Intelligence platform," the company said.
To make matters worse, Webroot's own systems became "overloaded" by a mammoth backlog of customers' requests to restore affected files from its cloud servers, it said.
Top kek. I think strictly, windows would be classified as malware. At the very least adware or spyware.
Alexander Ramirez
That's what they get for using third-party antimalware.
Use at most what the OS provider offers, along with good security practices and protocols.
Luke Ward
>identified core parts of Microsoft Windows as threats well they aren't wrong technically. Good on webroot, glad I use them
Jayden Harris
get fucked idiots
Oliver Hernandez
Ok, they made a mistake, and corrected it within a half hour according to their reports. Sounds like a good thing. Better they occasionally go overboard with the protection rather than occasionally letting an actual threat get through.
Gabriel Sanders
But the threat is already here user windows, you should use linux instead.
Jeremiah Flores
GNU/Linux*
Tyler Williams
>rather than These are not exclusive cases. A company which accidentally fucks with system files may or may not be competent when it comes to catching real threats. It's really unfounded to call this a "good thing." It made them no better at their stated goals while messing with a lot of customers' day.
Ian Brown
I do for the most part, but still have Windows on a separate drive for games. I like having antivirus to scan the pirated stuff. Have found a few keyloggers among other things before installing (not that I type anything important into Windows any more other than gaming service logins.)
Alexander Bennett
Right, but let's say those weren't really system files, but were actually malware. Customers would be bitching even more if they DIDN'T quarentine the files, so it was better to just quarentine them if they showed the same signs of bad behavior that they've been tracking for years now.
but certain processes of windows can be definitively classified as malware.
Lincoln Long
>mistakenly identified core parts of Microsoft Windows as threats >mistakenly
Jace Brown
>let's say A hypothetical exercise doesn't impact what happened in reality. Once you "let's say" yourself into a conclusion, all you're really doing is making up an excuse to say whatever you want.
You have no evidence that they're any better at catching threats now. I'm not saying they're any worse either. It's just that this didn't teach them anything about viruses or the like. Try thinking about this with an analogy, like if you were placed in a medical quarantine for a disease you didn't have. Then consider whether those doctors actually got any better at treating people who really do have the disease, or whether it just taught them that you were healthy.
Bentley Hughes
>implying that Linux is useful
Samuel Garcia
something happened
Joseph Torres
macfag detected
Cooper Flores
FUCK OFF FUCKING SHILL
Juan Edwards
>Webroot's own systems became "overloaded" by a mammoth backlog of customers' requests to restore affected files from its cloud servers >restore affected files from its cloud servers Wait so... all your files are uploaded to (((the cloud))) for safekeeping?
Jackson White
This is nothing new. AV providers upload the "infected" files ostensibly for analysis. That way they can learn about new variants out there and update their next round of definitions. It's not for safekeeping per se, but in this instance the customers enjoy the benefit of being able to pull back down the removed files.
Levi Gonzalez
>Popular Antivirus Program >An antivirus service used by tens of thousands of businesses and millions of home users >Webroot literally who fake crap to get free attention that article is like a press release directly from the company itself
Nathan Perez
>The SKY is FALLING >Population on SUICIDE WATCH >ANTIVIRUS TECHNOLLOGICAL BUZZWORDDDDD
Jonathan Bailey
No kek could describe my kek right now
Robert Miller
>not knowing webroot kys
Kevin Brown
yeah, with windows 10 i ended up sticking with just the windows defender shit, even if it's not the best. if you don't run your computer as admin and act like a mong, then you don't have much to worry about.
A company that has managed to stay in business long enough to sucker people into buying theory sorry products
Samuel Williams
>mistakenly identified core parts of Microsoft Windows as threats My fucking sides
Lincoln Wilson
>if you don't run your computer as admin and act like a mong, then you don't have much to worry about. If only most of Windows users though like you. But they don't. And they won't because too many Microsoft Partners have their business model based on user ignorance. It says a lot when the AV industry makes a living on Windows' shortcomings.
Liam Barnes
Who the fuck uses Anti-virus? If you don't know how to keep viruses off your computer without installing one of those even more resource-sucking antivirus programs you shouldn't even be on a computer.
Jace Phillips
>Webroot >Popular
Only Reddit used that Antivirus. It is not even on the top 5.
Evan Nelson
>mistakenly identified core parts of Microsoft Windows as threats >mistakenly No. The program worked as intended. Windows 10 itself is malicious software designed to mistreat the user. We've been over this before.
Brandon Phillips
...
Jace Hernandez
>mistakenly
Blake Flores
There is objectively no reason to use antivirus on a modern OS.
Ethan Smith
>Untold number of computers
>Detecting Microsoft Windows as a threat
>Anonymous, but well-respected tech security Twitter account
>Customers useless without the cloud
Are blogs allowed on g now? And people are really pissed at a tech company because they're backlogged assisting shit? This is what you get for leaning on the cloud, they should know better than to be non-local.
Joshua Butler
nah you do not really want to run debian
Justin Parker
never heard of webroot
Noah Reed
Webroot ships with anything you get with Best Buy and officially advertises the (((Geek Squad)))
i.e. it roots your computer through the web. Webroot
Angel Russell
they did nothing wrong.
Hudson Adams
It wasn't a false positive
Jordan Campbell
>mistakenly If it identified Windows as a virus it sounds like it's doing it's job.
