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SonicWall leaves users exposed to online threats

Users of SonicWall's e-mail security products were temporarily left exposed to online threats on Tuesday (December 2nd) as a result of technical issues, it has emerged.

A technical problem on a licence management server left many exposed to spam, phishing and malware threats while some users were locked out of their accounts.

The number of people affected by the glitch is not yet clear but Colleen Nichols, a spokeswoman for SonicWall confirmed the incident took place and said it was resolved as quickly as possible.

"Very early this morning," Ms Nichols told Computer World, "one server in SonicWall's licensing server pool that handles distribution of [antivirus] signatures and license keys malfunctioned."

She added that the firm closed down the affected server "shortly after it began malfunctioning, and at the same time proactively stopped automatic license key updates while we verified the integrity of the rest of our licensing servers".

Outraged SonicWall customers left angry messages on the company's user forum as a result of the issue brought to Computerworld's attention by one of the customers.

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