The McAfee DAT update 5958 was issued on April 21, 2010, and created quite a situation. Heretofore, I will remember what transpired as “the events of April 21.”
I think that someday, examining what happened would make an interesting case study in crisis management. A lot of the incident unfolded on the Internet — and on Twitter, specifically. The company even became a trending topic, as seen in this screenshot I took after lunchtime (I think around 2 PM Eastern time, although I only saved later):
The 5958 DAT was available on McAfee’s publicly-accessible HTTP and FTP download repositories until at least 1 PM Eastern, when I was checking on them.
The Windows and Mac anti-malware products from McAfee share DAT updates, which provide virus definitions. I was able to update VirusScan for Mac OS X to 5958 with no ill effects in the midst of the developing situation. (The problem only appears to have affected Windows XP systems.) Later, when McAfee had posted a newer update as version 5959, I was also able to download that.
Based on reports I saw on Twitter and the Web, McAfee was overwhelmed by this — particularly its call center and its Web-based customer forums. This allowed a lot of speculation and misinformation — along with humor — to break out.
I’ve saved this undoctored screen shot for a while. I figure I’ll end with it, even though it’s unrelated to the events of April 21.
