A hacker posted the source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere product Tuesday, following a failed attempt to extort $50,000 from the security company, Reuters reported. The previous day, Symantec publicized an email thread detailing the extortion negotiations, which the company said it participated in as part of a sting operation.

In January, Symantec told customers to stop using pcAnywhere while it prepared patches, and then it issued patches twice toward the end of the month. The phony ransom negotiations may have given Symantec time to try to issue repairs to the program.

"Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since January 23rd to protect our users against known vulnerabilities," spokesman Cris Paden said. If users have the up-to-date version of the product, they should not be at any special risk, he added.

The company posted an email string between the hacker, named "YamaTough," and law enforcement agents pretending to work for Symantec. According to the company, the hacker, who said he is based in Mumbai, India, belongs to the Lords of Dharmaraja group, which is affiliated with Anonymous.

The hacker told Reuters that he never planned to take Symantec's money. "We tricked them into offering us a bribe so we could humiliate them," YamaTough told the news organization.

For more:
- see the Reuters article

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