Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Symantec labels chinese censorship-busting software a Trojan
From: Feher Tamas <etomcat () freemail hu>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 12:35:53 +0200 (CEST)
Dear All, I feel all AV customers should know about this, even /. it if you think so! The future is at stake. I urge all people who value the 1st amendment to send letters of protest. Sincerely: Tamas Feher from Hungary. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a0b009c0-0523-11d9-8f8e-00000e2511c8.html Chinese face new curb on web access by Mure Dickie, Financial Times, 13 Sept 2004 "A computer program designed to help Chinese internet users view websites blocked by the government has been designated a harmful "Trojan horse" virus by software sold by Symantec, the world's largest computer security company, The move makes it more difficult to download and use the widely-used Freegate program and highlights concern about international companies helping Beijing and other authoritarian governments restrict access to the internet. Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), which developed and distributes Freegate, said that a number of users had reported that its newest version had been targeted by Symantec's Norton-branded anti-virus software. Freegate and other similar programs allow computer users in China to circumvent government blocks on foreign websites - ranging from mainstream western media sites to those of political reform groups and human rights organisations. Freegate, which DIT estimates has 200,000 users, allows users to access blocked websites easily using "proxy servers" that have frequently changing internet addresses. Bill Xia, DIT president, said Freegate was included in the virus definition list of Norton software for both personal computers and network servers. Inclusion in the list means the anti-virus software will attempt to remove a targeted program from any protected computers and prevent it from being distributed via email. A Symantec official in Beijing confirmed that Norton's software had designated Freegate a "Trojan horse", but would not give details of why it had done so. Mr Xia said he could think of no reason why Freegate would be considered harmful. Trojan horses masquerade as harmless software but have a malicious effect - such as deleting files, allowing a remote user to access data or hijacking a computer to mount attacks on someone else's system. "Our program doesn't do anything like that," said Mr Xia. China's government has made great efforts to maintain its ability to block websites considered politically or socially suspect." http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/14/symantec_targets_freegate/ Symantec labels China censorship-busting software as Trojan by John Leyden, Theregister, 14 Sept 2004 "Symantec has labelled a program that enables Chinese surfers to view blocked websites as a Trojan Horse. Upshot? Users of Norton Anti-Virus cannot access Freegate, a popular program which circumvents government blocks, the FT reports. Freegate has 200,000 users, Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), its developer, estimates. It lets users view sites banned by the Chinese government by taking advantage of a range of proxy servers assigned to changeable internet addresses. But a recent update to Symantec's AV definition files means the latest version of Freegate is treated as malware and removed from systems protected by Norton. Short of disabling Norton AV, users would have little say in this. A Symantec staffer in China told the FT that Norton Anti-Virus identified Freegate as a Trojan horse, but declined to provide a rationale for such a definition. The absence of an explanation from Symantec raises concerns. We hope that the mislabelling of Freegate is a simple mistake, soon rectified, rather than yet another example of an IT firm helping Beijing implement restrictions. History provides as least one example of the AV industry extending favours to China that it would normally withhold. AV firms normally keep virus samples under lock and key. But suppliers agreed to hand over virus samples to the Chinese government a few years ago as a condition of trading in the country. These samples could be easily found on the net but the incident illustrates a precedent of China being treated as a special exception." _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
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