In January 2012, a group of hackers called "The Lords of Dharmaraja" claimed to have obtained the source code of Norton Ghost 12, along with other Symantec products, from the servers of Indian intelligence agencies. They posted some snippets of the code online, revealing that it was written in C, a programming language widely used for system programming. They also threatened to release the full source code to the public, unless Symantec paid them a ransom.
Symantec confirmed that some of its source code was leaked externally, but said that it was from an old document describing how the solution worked, and not from the actual product. They also assured their customers that there was no security risk or impact on the functionality of their products. Symantec said that they were investigating the claims and working with law enforcement agencies to identify the hackers and protect their intellectual property.
The source code leak raised some concerns about the security and reliability of Norton Ghost and other Symantec products, especially for users who relied on them for backup and recovery purposes. Some experts suggested that the leak could expose potential vulnerabilities or flaws in the software, or allow hackers to create malicious versions of it. Others argued that the leak was not significant, as the code was outdated and did not reflect the current state of the software.
The incident also highlighted the risks of storing sensitive data on third-party servers, especially those belonging to government agencies or contractors. It showed that hackers could target these servers and access confidential information or intellectual property from various companies or organizations. It also raised questions about the security practices and policies of these servers, and how they protected their data from unauthorized access or disclosure.
The Norton Ghost 12 source code leak in C was one of the notable cases of cyberattacks on software companies in recent years. It demonstrated the challenges and threats that these companies faced in protecting their products and customers from hackers and cybercriminals. It also showed the importance of having strong encryption, authentication, and backup systems to safeguard data and software from potential breaches or leaks.
References:
[Norton AntiVirus source code leaked to hackers? - NBC News]
[Symantec Investigates Possible Leak of Norton AntiVirus Source Code ...]
[Norton Ghost 12 Source Code Leak In C - forlituso.mystrikingly.com]
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