Hacker backs out of releasing Norton source code

A HACKER with the handle Yama Tough had announced he would release the source code for Symantec's Norton antivirus but has since backed out.

The hacker, who has links to Anonymous and The Lords of Dharmaraja had said he would publish 1.7Gb of source code online today. However, he has backtracked from that promise on Twitter.

We've decided not to release code to the public until we get full of it =) 1st we'll own evrthn we can by 0din' the sym code & pour mayhem

— Yama Tough (@YamaTough) January 16, 2012

We believe "0din'" is short for "zero daying", meaning a surprise attack on the software.

At the beginning of the month The Lords of Dharmaraja announced they had lifted the source code from Indian military intelligence servers.

Symantec said it isn't worried about these claims, because the source code is for an old and discontinued version of the software from 2006.

It said in a statement, "The code that has been posted for the 2006 version poses no security threat to users of the current version of Norton Utilities. Furthermore, we have no indications that the code disclosure impacts the functionality or security of any of Symantec's other solutions. Lastly, there are no indications that customer information has been impacted or exposed at this time." µ