Webroot Antivirus Program Mistakenly IDs Windows as Threat, Creating Chaos
Popular Antivirus Program Mistakenly IDs Windows as
Threat, Creating Chaos
by ALEX JOHNSON TECH
APR 25 2017, 7:53 AM ET
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.
Follow
Webroot ✔ @Webroot
@DueMarauder We're working on a universal fix now. Follow
our Community thread to stay up-to-date: http://wbrt.io/lj2x .
3:35 PM - 24 Apr 2017
6 6 Retweets 2 2 likes
The glitch first manifested itself as customers
complained that Webroot was mistakenly flagging Facebook.com as a dangerous
identity-fishing site.
Follow
Billy Rountree
@TreeBilliam
I think Webroot is on to something @Snowden
4:59 PM - 24 Apr 2017
4 4 Retweets 4 4 likes
Follow
Sean Porcher
@SeanPorcher
@Webroot I'd love to connect with you on facebook
(actually no I wouldn't) but it won't let me - sorry. LOL LOL
4:50 PM - 24 Apr 2017
2 2 Retweets likes
The company said Monday night that it had resolved that
problem. But at 10:40 p.m. ET, Webroot said it was still working to resolve the
larger issue "and will keep you updated as soon as more information
becomes available."
15h
Keith Sieman
@KeithSieman
> Tfw @Webroot gives you a link to their @facebook
page on the very same screen that's blocking access to Facebook... 🙃
pic.twitter.com/6tued4BKu1
Follow
Webroot ✔ @Webroot
@KeithSieman @facebook A live fix has been released for
the Facebook issue and is propagating through to customers now. Learn more
here: http://wbrt.io/lj2x .
6:45 PM - 24 Apr 2017
W32.Trojan.Gen. False Positive Fix - April 24
Webroot has recently identified false positives for
multiple programs as W32.Trojan.Gen. If you have an endpoint with a file that
was quarantined or
community.webroot.com
2 2 Retweets 1 1 like
It said it had ruled out that it had been the target of
hackers.
Webroot's customers — including numerous so-called
managed service providers, or MSPs, which use Webroot to manage security for
multiple clients of their own — flooded social media to complain.
Follow
Torbjørn Remmen
@torbjornremmen
#Webroot is setting a new record in false positives..
Apparently flagging business applications and OS files in bulk. No QA on
signatures?
4:42 PM - 24 Apr 2017
3 3 Retweets 2 2 likes
18h
Webroot ✔ @Webroot
@DueMarauder We're working on a universal fix now. Follow
our Community thread to stay up-to-date: http://wbrt.io/lj2x .
Follow
Pat Moore
@DueMarauder
@Webroot Any update on a fix for MSP's? I've got well
over 1,000 devices affected by this.
4:41 PM - 24 Apr 2017
Retweets likes
19h
Webroot ✔ @Webroot
@jerrichculli Hi - how can I help you? ~LV
Follow
Josh Cullitan
@jerrichculli
@Webroot i work for a small software company,webroot has
targeted our exe and is removing it from pcs
is there anyway to do like a blanket exclusion
2:17 PM - 24 Apr 2017
1 1 Retweet 2 2 likes
Follow
Jordan Hall
@DivineOmega
.@Webroot has gone bonkers, flagging signed system
executables as malicious, and marking legitimate sites as phishing. 😬 #security #netsec
4:25 PM - 24 Apr 2017
2 2 Retweets likes
At least none of my customers use Webroot (oh please
don't let Bitdefender have dependencies...) https://t.co/Wk95OwJrEo
— Ben Weston (@psiphyr)
FIRST PUBLISHED APR 25 2017, 12:06 AM ET
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