Strike II: Symantec Support gone rogue

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by vijayind, Mar 7, 2009.

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  1. vijayind

    vijayind Registered Member

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    I think they work at Symantec's Norton India offices in Chennai and Pune respectively. But I heard they are not employee's of Symantec rather third-party workers under-contract to work for Symantec at their center.

    Such third-party comrade is common in India. For ex, in our firm we have people from X (third-party) working alongside us. This is a flexible plan, hire and fire. Need assembly programmers in a hurry, just get them over from X and when job is over you can always sent them back.
    The same is true also for IT support professionals.
     
  2. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    At least last year, they used 3rd party contractors for support. I still have the email from one and the company they worked for (not here, but at home).
     
  3. vijayind

    vijayind Registered Member

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    Could be, but you must understand these are third-party workers. And in some firms, they are still treated as 3-rd party.
    Like in our firm, they have strict access through us only and to do emailing they need to do, they connect to their companies web mail accounts.

    So the same maybe true for Norton's Chennai & Pune centers.
     
  4. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    I need some answers from someone who knows for sure please.

    I have installed NIS 09 on two friends' laptops in November or December. Is the ask.com still truly spyware and will I find it on their laptop tomorrow when I boot them?
     
  5. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    I don't know about the ask.com toolbar, but what's in NIS2009 is NOT spyware. If you use Firefox, its essentially the same thing as the google search box in the browser (except you can't change the provider). If you don't use the search box, NOTHING is sent to Ask.com; I asked this up-front, and a Symantec employee on their forums confirmed it.

    I'm not saying I like it, or its a good thing, but some of the FUD going around about it is a little over the top - It is not spyware, so your friends are fine.
     
  6. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    Cool, thank you CountryGuy!
     
  7. mvdu

    mvdu Registered Member

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    I prefer not to use Ask because of their history, and according to Donna's security blog, sending search info. to a third party - but as long as you are not using the search box, nothing is being sent to Ask according to posts here.
     
  8. Corrine

    Corrine Spyware Fighter

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    @Longboard and Saraceno - Thanks for reading my post about Norton.

    Personally, until Ben Edelman determines that IAC/Ask are no longer exhibiting the behaviors he exhibited in his reports, I will steer clear of products, most particularly security products, that incorporate that technology.

    With regard to where or by whom support is provided, it is completely immaterial. Whether Symantec is paying employees or contractors to provide support for their product, to blatantly claim another product as a Norton product, completely against the terms of service of the other produce is unacceptable. This is exasperated by the fact that Symantec is, in effect, double-dipping in that they are already receiving payment from the customer for a license to use the product and then additional payment from IAC for the toolbar installation.
     
  9. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    Again -- They are not installing the Ask.com toolbar. Please stop saying it is. What they've done is put a search box on NORTON's toolbar. That search box will send the query to Ask.com, which then shows the same Green/Yellow/Red site settings if you use Ask.com, Google, Live Search, etc... That's Norton's SafeWeb. The difference is they integrated with Ask.com to block those sites marked as red in the results. Its a Norton product, not an Ask product.

    You don't need to use that. I have mine turned off, and I use Live Search. Nothing goes to Ask.com

    Saying it is an "Ask.com" toolbar is FUD, plain and simple.
     
  10. mvdu

    mvdu Registered Member

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    It's kind of confusing what is happening if you use SafeWeb. Is Ask.com still returning the results?
     
  11. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    From what I was told my Symantec, if you DONT use the search window, no it doesn't. Now, if someone is seeing differently I'd love to know about it though...
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2009
  12. mvdu

    mvdu Registered Member

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    The press release says they are ask.com generated, so I assume ask must return something.
     
  13. CountryGuy

    CountryGuy Registered Member

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    The search results were (if you used the SafeSearch / Ask.com search), I thought the site ratings was Symantec's.
     
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