The hacker, going by the name Yamatough, released a code archive containing disputed files from The Pirate Bay (Tuesday) just as Symantec revealed that ransom negotiations with the hacker impersonating Symantec employees were conducted by law enforcement. The company urged all users of its pcAnywhere product to immediately apply security patches. Spokesman Chris Paden wrote in a statement: "Symantec is conducting an internal investigation into this incident, and has contacted law enforcement regarding an apparent attempt at extortion and theft of intellectual property." Last Tuesday, a series of emails apparently between Yamatough and Symantec employees were posted on the site pastebin.com. The emails revealed back-and-forth over how to arrange a suspected $50,000 payment as ransom for the hacker's promise not to release the source code. Symantec said talks between both parties proceeded under enforcement after the company contacted authorities about the ruse. Symantec said the source code, which it updated products with new code in 2006, had been stolen. Nonetheless, the company said it had contacted customers in recent weeks to have them apply upgrades to the software that would address known security issues. The source code is for Symantec's product called pcAnywhere, which allows users to log into and control home or work computers remotely. Access to the code could give hackers theoretical insight into ways to grab computers using the software. The email charade was "part of the technical investigation into all types of events," he added, noting that the company could not reveal law enforcement's involvement while the probe was ongoing. The hacker released the stolen source code after fake ransom negotiations failed, according to the company. Symantec said the code was stolen in 2006 and affected four products: Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition, Norton SystemWorks, Norton Internet Security and pcAnywhere. "Of these four products, only pcAnywhere is still being sold," Paden wrote. "All have since been retired and discontinued – or in the case of Norton Internet Security, it has been completely, entirely re-built." Related thematic articles: Comments on this page are combined across all categories of SEO software. Interstar users' data may be handed over this week without their knowledge. Hackers intercept FBI calls with U.K. Search engine marketing and online marketing services. Copyright: Legal hurdles in retrieving documents from Interstar.