Serious Holes in Antivirus Software
What if the bad guys found ways to infiltrate your computer through the very antivirus software that you thought was protecting you? Recent discoveries suggest that this scenario isn’t so far-fetched.
If you have the latest antivirus definitions, aren’t you protected? Not necessarily. Most programs have an automatic update feature that’s turned on by default, but the tool may update only the definitions, not other software modules such as the scanning engine. The good news: Several antivirus software companies have patched their programs to fix this vulnerability.
McAfee, for example, updated the scanning engine of its VirusScan software to block a hole that could let a cracker control your PC while the engine appears to be scanning for viruses. The vulnerability affects all versions of VirusScan and Internet Security Suite that run on all versions of Windows from 98 through XP.