Hackers Hold Symantec Ransom, Source Code Leaked

Hackers, supposedly from Anonymous, demanded $50,000 from Symantec Corp in return for destroying the source code for Symantec’s pcAnywhere product. The hackers who stole the source code have posted conversations on Pastebin detailing the demands of Yamatough, who claimed to have the source code for multiple Symantec products. The Negotiations between Yamatough and Symantec began back in January just after the source code theft, with Symantec agreeing to pay the money to Anonymous. The negotiations broke down however, with Symantec only offering to pay in monthly installments. Eventually with negotiations having soured, the hacker set a 10-minute deadline for Symantec to meet his demands, which they failed to do. The resulting fallout ended with “Symantec’s pcAnywhere Leaked Source Code” being put up on The Pirate Bay. The real twist here is the fact that the negotiations between Yamatough and Symantec had been under investigation since January, and it was a sting operation to catch the hackers. The sting operation was confirmed to CNET last night with a statement from Symantec. The investigation appears to still be ongoing, with the hackers free for the time being.