Virus checker issues led to intermittent upload failures for Safe4

At around 9:30 GMT on Friday 26 January 2018 the Safe4 system began to experience intermittent failures when uploading files. This was displayed to users as a “rejected” message in the web user interface or an error message if using the Safe4 API.

Investigation showed that the issue was caused by an intermittent failure of the virus scanner that is used to check every file uploaded to the system. This was traced to an error in the virus signature files used by the virus checker – the updated signature files relied on a capability in the core virus software that had not yet been released. The root cause was therefore configuration control by the provider of the virus software.

Once the problem was identified by the virus team an updated set of signature files was released. Normal service of Safe4 was restored by approximately 3:30 GMT on Friday 26 January 2018.

The virus vendor has advised that they are reviewing their release processes to ensure that this situation does not recur.

All of the other functions of Safe4 were unaffected by this problem, and consequently no other activities suffered any disruption.

We would like to apologise for the inconvenience that this issue caused to our customers, and for their clients and associates.