Security firm retracts 'black screen' claims, apologizes to Microsoft

Computerworld ^ | December 2, 2009 | Gregg Keizer

[astyanax]

The U.K. security company that started a firestorm after claiming recent Windows security updates caused a widespread "black screen" lock-out of users' PCs has retracted its claims and publicly apologized to Microsoft.

"It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context and may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft," Mel Morris, the chief executive of U.K. security firm Prevx, said in an entry on the company's blog Wednesday. "This was never our intention and we have already apologized to Microsoft."

[astyanax]

Money quote:
"You should now make your risk assessment and decide which source you want to trust," said Halbheer on a Microsoft blog Tuesday. "For me, the ultimate source for information you should build your assessment on is neither Twitter nor your brother's sister-in-law's father's brother, but our Web site."

[VeniVidiVici]

"It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context and may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft," Mel Morris, the chief executive of U.K. security firm Prevx,

Perhaps their blog server is in East Anglia.

[astyanax]

Hmm, imagine that...
It WASN'T the fault of "little Billy Gates" and his "mommy"!
VVV: the "money quote" above was inspired by your post.

[Pistolshot]

Thanks for the ping.

I really expect all the MS haters to come here and apologize for jumping the gun. /sarc.

[DonaldC]

Last I heard, the culprit was malware, which is scary to me if malware can do that to a part of the OS that should be secure. I don’t think MS has any bragging ground here if that is true.

[astyanax]

You’re welcome.
I’m sure they’ll find something to whine about.

[astyanax]

"Perhaps their blog server is in East Anglia.
LOL! (And where was Al Gore while this was going on?)

[antiRepublicrat]

So what was the cause? It’s obviously happening.

[astyanax]

It appears that malware infected machines that have Prevx (anti-malware software) installed are the main culprit.
Other than the articles concerning Prevx, I haven’t seen any reports of actual problems.

[papasmurf]

Ha!

As I said on the other threads, it was only for free publicity. I sent them a scathing and accusatory email letting them know they weren’t doing themselves any good with this and should apologize. I wonder how many others did the same? Prolly around 10,000 or so. LOL

[papasmurf]

Thanks for the ping!

[McGruff]

I knew it. How many freepers will apologize for their statements.

“It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context...” - sounds like Robert Gibbs speak.

[TheBattman]

I’m no Microsoft fan... quite the contrary. But making false or unsubstantiated claims is not a good practice against anyone. They can come back to haunt you.

I love how they played the same game our own politicians play when confronted with a really stupid or false statement they made - “taken out of context”.