Symantec Unable To Manage SHA-2, Breaks Server 2008 R2 And Windows 7

If only Symantec had any kind of premonition about Microsoft shifting to employ SHA-2 approved updates, everything may have gone much easier.

It appears that 6 Months is not sufficed for Symantec to get its processes aligned, as its anti-virus tool is not able to manage SHA-2 signatures, and resulted in Microsoft withholding upgrades from specific machines.

In an upgrade note for Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, Microsoft claimed that when a machine operates any Norton or Symantec antivirus program, and tries to download an upgrade approved only with SHA-2, the antivirus tool deletes or blocks the update at the time of installation, which might make the OS stop operating.

“Microsoft has provisionally put a safeguard hold on machines with an impacted variant of Norton Antivirus or Symantec Antivirus installed to stop them from getting this kind of Windows update until a fix is accessible,” Microsoft claimed.

“We suggest that you do not install affected updates manually until a fix is accessible.”

For its end, Symantec claimed an “upcoming variant” of Symantec Endpoint Protection might show support for SHA-2. Previously this year, Microsoft claimed it was shifting away from dual-signing its upgrades with SHA-2 and SHA-1 owing to the SHA-1 weakness.

“Unluckily, the SHA-1 security hash algorithm has turned out to be less secure over time owing to increased processor performance, weaknesses seen in the algorithm, and the dawn of cloud computing,” Microsoft claimed to the media.

On a related note, in Las Vegas at the Black Hat security conference, Microsoft declared the top enterprise partners and security researchers who added the most zero-day and vulnerability reports impacting the firm’s goods.

Microsoft’s catalog of leading contributors has turned out to be a Black Hat tradition, and most of the industry experts employ it as a guide to top bug hunters these days. Security researchers who are present in the list will frequently market it as one of their top career accomplishments, and for good purposes.