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                Date: 2001-11-28
                 
                 
                Symantec und "Magic Lantern"
                
                 
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      Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. Waehrend McAfee abstreitet, das 
FBI-Schnueffeltool "Magic Lantern" in zukuenftigen Versionen 
seiner Antivirensoftware zu ignorieren, spricht Eric Chien von 
Symantec deutlichere Toene. 
 
Ob sich da gar ein Trend abzeichnet ? 
 
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AV vendors split over FBI Trojan snoops 
By John Leyden Posted: 27/11/2001 at 18:34 GMT 
 
Antivirus vendors are at loggerheads over whether they 
should include in their software packages detection for a 
Trojan horse program reportedly under development by the 
FBI.  
 
[...] 
 
MSNBC quotes unnamed sources who says that Magic 
Lantern could be sent to a target by email or planted on a 
suspect's PC by exploiting common operating system 
vulnerabilities.  
 
Although unconfirmed, the reports are been taken seriously 
in the security community, and are consistent with the 
admitted use of key-logging software in the investigation of 
suspected mobster Nicodemo Scarfo. In that case, FBI agents 
obtained a warrant to enter Scarfo's office and install 
keystroke logging software on his machine.  
 
[...] 
 
And antivirus vendors are mulling over the rights and 
wrongs of putting Magic Lantern on their virus definition 
list.  
 
Eric Chien, chief researcher at Symantec's antivirus research 
lab, said that provided a hypothetical keystroke logging tool 
was used only by the FBI, then Symantec would avoid 
updating its antivirus tools to detect such a Trojan. The 
security firm is yet to hear back from the FBI on its 
enquiries about Magic Lantern but it already has a policy on 
the matter.  
 
"If it was under the control of the FBI, with appropriate 
technical safeguards in place to prevent possible misuse, and 
nobody else used it - we wouldn't detect it," said Chien. 
"However we would detect modified versions that might be 
used by hackers."  
 
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, 
disagrees. He says it it wrong to deliberately refrain from 
detecting the virus, because its customers outside the US 
would expect protection against the Trojan. Such a move 
also creates an awkward precedent.  
 
Cluley adds: "What if the French intelligence service, or even 
the Greeks, created a Trojan horse program for this purpose? 
Should we ignore those too?" 
 
Volltext:  
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23057.html
                   
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 2001-11-28 
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