Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Norton Users Worried By PIFTS.exe, Stonewalling By Symantec

Posted by timothy on from the and-nobody-saw-me dept.

An anonymous reader writes that "[Monday] evening, on systems with Norton Internet Protection running, users began to see a popup warning about an executable named PIFTS.exe trying to access the internet. The file was shown to be located in a non-existent folder inside the Symantec LiveUpdate folder. There were several posts about this to the Norton customer forums asking for help or information on this mysterious program. The initial thread received several thousand views and several pages of replies in a few short hours before being deleted. Several subsequent posts to the Norton forum were deleted much more quickly. These actions — whether actively covering up, or simply not well thought through — have spurred people to begin crafting conspiracy theories about the purposes of this PIFTS program. I for one am blocking the program until more information becomes available." The current top link on Google for "PIFTS.exe" links to one of these deleted questions on Norton's support boards, which sounds innocent enough: "I searched this forum but did not see PIFTS.exe. Any idea what this is?"

19 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. Don't worry. by internerdj · · Score: 5, Funny

    We are here to protect you. You can trust us.

    1. Re:Don't worry. by datapharmer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do not trust him. He is malfunctioning. I am the Shover robot, I am here to protect you from the terrible secret of Symantec.

      --
      Get a web developer
    2. Re:Don't worry. by PriceIke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please go stand by the stairs so we can protect you.

      --
      It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
  2. More conspiracy theories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's begin the conspiracy theories:

    • Unlikely: They accidentally included a virus in an update. Maybe a virus that got out of control in their labs. Maybe a virus that some 1337z h4x0rz snuck into their system. But as I said, unlikely.
    • Unlikelier still: This program is a legitimate part of their product, but by mistake they included its signature in their database, or a signature of something else that has a hash collision with this program's hash.
    • Extremely unlikely: This is a top secret government program used to figure out who is NOT a national security threat, in order to expend trillions in government resources in doing all sorts of clandestine operations to collect terabytes of data on each of those individuals (again, the ones who have been determined as NON-threats). The ones who have been determined as threats will be placed into an "ignore" database, as collecting any information on those individuals might offend them and is therefore undesirable.
  3. Any publicity is good publicity by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ping Internet For Time on Slashdot?

  4. not to worry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't worry about it. It's just the Privacy Invader From Team Symantec.

  5. PIFTS Obvious what it is by oztiks · · Score: 4, Funny

    P = Purposely
    I = Introduced
    F = File
    T = Thieving
    S = System

  6. Re:Rootkit? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Didn't you know? In order to reduce the cost of Norton subscriptions, every Norton install now runs a clandestine side business in gun-running and coke smuggling...

  7. Re:Rootkit? by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Funny

    *PIFTS*

    No, that's not the file. That's the noise I make in disgust everytime somebody tells me to install Norton.

    I'd rather download WINDOWSANTIVIRUS.jpg.exe from bittorrent. At least that will shut up every now and then after I pay the extortion fee.

  8. Re:pot! kettle! black! by timothy · · Score: 4, Funny

    What sort of response are you talking about?

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  9. Weekend???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, you managed to uninstall Norton A/V in less than 48 hours????

  10. PIFTS by meist3r · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perfectly Innocent Firewall Testing System

  11. Re:An effort underway by krelian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for effort. I just hope you will have the time to do it while still following the other piece of news you have posted on your blog regarding the immediate annexation of Mexico by the U.S...

  12. Re:An effort underway by Incitatus · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is an effort underway here http://chrysler5thavenue.blogspot.com/

    The previous blog entry on this site is that the US is annexing Mexico. Looks like a reliable source to me.

  13. Re:Rootkit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    FROST PIFTS!

  14. Re:Windows Users Beware... by agrounds · · Score: 5, Funny

    Strawman? False Dichotomy? Slippery Slope?

    Man... where do I even begin to explain how bizarre this leap of logic is? Not even Evel Knievel could make this jump.

  15. Don't we all run Linux? by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 4, Funny

    / yet another smug, uninfected Linux user.

  16. Re:Windows Users Beware... by TimothyDavis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not even Evel Knievel could make this jump.

    Is that because he is dead? Or because the gap is too far?

  17. Re:Windows Users Beware... by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
    11. ...

    12. Profit???

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........