Symantec has been forced to write off US$10 million in revenue after a glitch in its sales system prevented some consumers from activating their Norton antivirus software at the time they bought it. Symantec has been forced to write off US$10 million in revenue after a glitch in its sales system prevented some consumers from activating their Norton antivirus software at the time they bought it.The problem affected less than half a percent of Symantec’s customers, CEO Enrique Salem said in an interview. “You’d sign up and there’d be a delay in getting your service activated,” he said. “There was just a lag between the front-end system and the back-end system, but it’s all been corrected and we’ve accounted for it.”Symantec has identified the customers affected by the problem and adjusted their accounts accordingly, Salem said. The issue was disclosed Wednesday in Symantec’s quarterly earnings announcement.Starting in November 2005, Symantec began automatically renewing subscriptions for its consumer antivirus product. The company says it keeps customers safe by preventing antivirus signatures from going out of date, but the product has had a few problems too. Symantec paid $375,000 earlier this year to settle a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general over the practice. The company also faces a class-action suit, brought by a customer who said he was charged for a renewal without notification. The refund was another piece of mixed news for a flat fiscal second quarter that was more profitable for Symantec than analysts had expected.Symantec’s revenue for the quarter, ended Oct. 1, was $1.48 billion, pretty much level with a year earlier. Hurt by a weakening U.S. dollar, Symantec’s consumer and security businesses grew by 3 percent and 5 percent year-over-year, but its storage and services groups dipped by 1 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Excluding charges, earnings per share were $0.34 for the second quarter, $0.06 ahead of analyst expectations, as compiled by Thomson Reuters.Salem said the services group revenue dropped in part because partners are providing more of Symantec’s services.Salem said the company’s August acquisition of VeriSign’s security business is going better than expected, generating $18 million in revenue during the period. “Our team has been working very hard to get the VeriSign, PGP, and GuardianEdge acquisitions integrated,” he said.Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert’s e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com Related content news Arm patches bugs in Mali GPUs that affect Android phones and Chromebooks The vulnerability with active exploitations allows local non-privileged users to access freed-up memory for staging new attacks. By Shweta Sharma Oct 03, 2023 3 mins Android Security Android Security Mobile Security news UK businesses face tightening cybersecurity budgets as incidents spike More than a quarter of UK organisations think their cybersecurity budget is inadequate to protect them from growing threats. By Michael Hill Oct 03, 2023 3 mins CSO and CISO Risk Management news Cybersecurity experts raise concerns over EU Cyber Resilience Act’s vulnerability disclosure requirements Open letter claims current provisions will create new threats that undermine the security of digital products and individuals. By Michael Hill Oct 03, 2023 4 mins Regulation Compliance Vulnerabilities feature The value of threat intelligence — and challenges CISOs face in using it effectively Knowing the who, what, when, and how of bad actors and their methods is a boon to security, but experts say many teams are not always using such intel to their best advantage. By Mary K. Pratt Oct 03, 2023 10 mins CSO and CISO Advanced Persistent Threats Threat and Vulnerability Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe