In a development laced with irony, Symantec’s World Cup 2010 website has fallen victim to the same spam threats it’s constantly warning its own customers about.

The company unveiled its 2010 Net Threat site just before the start of the soccer spectacle, using it to detail a variety of World Cup-related information security threats.

However, Symantec was forced to shut down the comment system last Friday following a flood of comment spam linking readers to unsavoury sales offers from shoes to hotel rooms.

The comment system did not incorporate security features like “Captcha” and didn’t even require people posting comments to register.

News that spammers had breached Symantec’s website was first reported by information security website The H.

Symantec has since deleted all the comments, and locked down the system. It will not say how it fell victim to the attack, or when or if the comment system will be reopened with better security features.

The company is a prime target for online security attacks given the nature of its work.

Symantec reported earlier this week that World Cup-related spam was more than nine times higher than during the 2006 games held in Germany. — Candice Jones, TechCentral