False positive : McAfee apologizes, a possible reimbursement for clients

McAfee has apologised following the release of a defective update, offering to eventually reimburse any costs linked to the reinstallation of any affected PC.

The security solutions editor McAfee must now think about how they can shine up their tarnished image after last week releasing a faulty update (see our news article). McAfee doesn’t yet know precisely how many users were affected, but they have stated that a "certain number of clients using Windows XP" encountered problems after a defective DAT file was published at 10 am GMT time last Wednesday.

With everything now back in order, it is the CEO of McAfee who has taken responsibility for the incident. Addressing both home users and professional clients, David DeWalt touched on last week’s incident while apologising for the impact that this had on clients.

Pointing out that his team reacted quickly to resolve the problem, David DeWalt nevertheless assured users that lessons have already been learnt from this incident, with "through the implementation of additional quality assurance controls for all applications which have a direct impact on critical file systems". It can be noted that this release is signed by David DeWalt, with the details being the same as those already put forward by Barry McPherson last Thursday, McAfee’s technical support and customer service manager.

In addition to their apology and promises, McAfee also appears that they are ready to put their hand in their pocket. The process has not yet been well defined, with details to be provided at a future date (in "the coming days"). On a Web page aimed at home users and independent operators (but not companies; something to perhaps be looked at later?), the editor has promised to reimburse "reasonable expenses" from any PC repairs undertaken following the issue.

In the event that a PC was made inoperable, or seriously compromised due to the false positive, "loyal clients" will be eligible for a free two year extension to their subscription.