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Symantec Stock Tanks After Announcing An Internal Probe (cnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the cyber-securities dept.

An anonymous reader quotes CNET: Symantec shares plummeted roughly 20% on Thursday after the antivirus maker warned an internal investigation could delay its annual report. The plunge followed news that the audit committee of Symantec's board had launched an internal investigation into undescribed concerns raised by a former employee. The probe is being aided by independent counsel and other advisers, the company said in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report. Symantec said it had informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission of the probe and intends to share information collected during the investigation with the commission.
CRN reports that the investigation "is not tied to any security concern or breach around Symantec's products or systems, Cynthia Hiponia, vice president of investor relations, said during the company's earnings call Thursday."

6 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. About time by Vranitzky · · Score: 4, Funny

    Symantec is still around? I remember the days in which if you wanted to fix a computer, the first thing was 'uninstall Norton antivirus' ðY

    1. Re:About time by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

      You needed to do that with any AV to avoid having your repair tools blocked. Yeah I get that you were just picking the low-hanging fruit of [insert software here] being useless, etc, but still...

      Nope. Normally you just disable it. But NAV/SAV is extra-bad garbage. Even the corporate edition would just stop updating itself last time I had to deal with it. Also, their detection rate has never been very good.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:About time by thomst · · Score: 3, Insightful

      drinkypoo opined:>/p>

      NAV/SAV is extra-bad garbage. Even the corporate edition would just stop updating itself last time I had to deal with it. Also, their detection rate has never been very good.

      I'll go farther than that:

      Symantec's anti-virus products ARE malware.

      They slow your machine down to a crawl. They interfere with basically any utility program you try to run. They prevent you from uninstalling THEM, if you let 'em. They keep you from being able to install all kinds of other software. They spy on you. And they're constantly trying to extort you into paying to extend your slavery to them, by pretending that something WORSE THAN SYMANTEC will happen to your computer, if you don't ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
    3. Re:About time by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The tragic thing is that around 2007 they released a good version. Installed quietly, didn't nag, protected you from genuine threats.

      It must not have made them much money because within a couple of years it was back to being bloated, whiney crap that nagged you to give it more money constantly.

      Good AV software is apparently unprofitable.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Are they stocking water tanks or tanks with gun by Xuranova · · Score: 2

    I think it might be a cultural/country thing. As a US citizen (but also as a person who is into finance) the headline made sense to me. When a stock goes down a noticeable amount, 'plummets' or 'tanks' are often the verbs used to describe it.

    --
    "There is no real right or wrong, just what the majority accepts at the time."
  3. Re:So therefore... by mccalli · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Money. It's going to be tied to money. If it's delaying the annual report, I would guess its going to be some accounting concern.