A software update was to blame for the shutdown of active-duty and retired military personnel and their families, according to Nextgov. The Department of Defense shut down its electronic health record system, the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) on Jan. 17, and was back online that evening after technicians corrected "a problem with a version upgrade to storage services. The Military Health System (MHS) now says Symantec's Veritas Storage Foundation storage software was the cause, according to the article.
An MHS spokesperson said the problem with the upgrade was an issue that had been fixed in the previous version but wasn't included in the current clinical data repository operating system. Symantec says it will develop a patch within two weeks. Meanwhile, AHLTA will run on the older version of the Veritas Storage Foundation software.
Symantec has advised consumers to disable its pcAnywhere remote access tool until it can provide security patches, according to PCWorld. Earlier this week, the company confirmed that the hacker group Anonymous stole source code from the 2006 versions of several Norton security products that could affect the remote desktop platform.
To learn more:
- read the AHLTA shutdown article
- read more about the pcAnywhere security warning