Recently an Antivirus flags Windows system files as malware. Webroot not only flagged core Windows files as malicious, it even started to remove some of the legitimate files as well. It even flagged Facebook and Bloomberg as the phishing site.
Webroot Blocked Millions Of PCs By Flagging Windows As Virus
Antivirus are tools that are intended to protect operating systems and information. Hence, they should not attack the systems as they must protect them.
But in occasional situations, there are cases that show that antiviruses can end up being malignant. This is what happened with the Webroot antivirus, which earlier this week began to brand Windows files as malicious.
No one would expect Windows problems to come from the tool that should protect it. This situation happened earlier this week with Webroot, which after a normal update of virus signatures started marking Windows files as being malignant and affected by W32.Trojan.Gen.
Immediately these files began to be moved to quarantine, being inaccessible to Windows, after which Windows immediately began to behave abnormally. Because access to the files was controlled, few users were able to immediately recover their machines.
According to the Webroot, this virus signature was only available for 13 minutes, but it was enough to create chaos among its more than 30 million users, as it can be seen on the company’s support page.
Webroot has already launched a solution to address the problem of affected users, who must keep their systems up and be running and use the recovery tool for files that are quarantined.
Webroot’s problems do not seem to have been limited to Windows because, according to reports, the days before had already begun to mark the page of social media giant Facebook and the media site Bloomberg as phishing websites.
This whole situation is now normalizing, but it is proven that even the tools that protect us can be malicious and render our machines inaccessible and unusable.
So, what do you think about this security issue? Simply share your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
