Hackers strike Symantec site

Internet vandals hacked into the servers of network security and utilities firm Symantec this week, defacing the company's Web site.

While the vandals claimed to have infected Symantec's network two months ago with a worm, company spokesman Richard Saunders denied that any worm existed on its systems, claiming the vandals "didn't get in beyond posting a mildly offensive, but otherwise impotent, message on our home page."

Symantec engineers took down the page within an hour of its posting.

Worms are virus-like programs that infect systems through networks automatically and without the need for an unknowing user to open a file or run an application.

"What this incident does show is that you cannot be complacent towards this kind of threat," said Saunders.

Symantec could not detail how the cyber vandals entered the company's network.

More details are available at www.zdnn.com