Malware antidote cripples PCs
A SOFTWARE update released to prevent variants of a new type of malware from infecting PCs has disabled hundreds of thousands of PCs the world over.
Trend Micro’s update signature pattern file, Official Pattern Release 2.594.00, was touted to be “the antidote to malware threats — viruses and worms and bots”, but resulted in performance issues on systems with versions 7.5 and above of its Scan Engine software.
Most of the impact was felt in Japan, where more than 300,000 users called after experiencing system slowdowns, following the release of the update on Saturday morning. The company replaced the faulty file with another version minutes after. Several reports were also filed by customers in the United States and Europe.