Symantec gives pcAnywhere product clean bill of health

Symantec has told users of its remote desktop tool pcAnywhere that it is now safe to use the product, providing they have upgraded to the latest release and installed all patches.

The advice comes just days after an unprecedented warning from the firm that users should take pcAnywhere offline, after stolen source code was used to exploit vulnerabilities in the software.

Symantec has subsequently issued patches which address the vulnerabilities in version 12.5, 12.1 and 12.0 of the remote access tool.

It has also offered users a free upgrade to the latest version upon request.

"At this time, Symantec recommends that customers ensure pcAnywhere 12.5 is installed, apply all relevant patches as they are released, and follow general security best practices," a company spokesman told V3.

Customers that are not able to update to the latest version or install the new patches were advised to contact the firm at pcanywhere@symantec.com for additional assistance.

The risks to pcAnywhere users came to light after a hacker released source code for Symantec's Norton Utilities software.

Symantec said it has established that the leaked code presented no threat to customers using its software other than pcAnywhere.

"The code that has been exposed is so old that current out-of-the-box security settings will suffice against any possible threats that might materialise as a result of this incident," it wrote in an advisory note.

The pcAnywhere software allows IT administrators to connect to PCs via the internet or the corporate LAN.