November 3, 2005

Sony Installing Rootkits

A rootkit is defined by Wikipedia as being a “set of tools frequently used by an intruder after cracking a computer system.” While hackers can use these tools, sometimes they are implemented in other ways. It has recently been reported (Sysinternals.com) that Sony is installing a form of a rootkit as part of its DRM. The Sysinternals guy says rootkits “..are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic and security software, and they are usually employed by malware attempting to keep their implementation hidden.” He used several methods of tracing the source of a kit he found on his system and found the culprit after seeing a DRM refrence.

The DRM reference made me recall having purchased a CD recently that can only be played using the media player that ships on the CD itself and that limits you to at most 3 copies. I scrounged through my CD’s and found it, Sony BMG’s Get Right with the Man (the name is ironic under the circumstances) CD by the Van Zant brothers. I hadn’t noticed when I purchased the CD from Amazon.com that it’s protected with DRM software..

Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson devoted today’s episode of Security Now! to this subject and it is quite an interesting listen. Check it out and this address.

10 Responses to “Sony Installing Rootkits”

  1. On 11/3/05 12:34 PM, then...yeah said:

    so… they’re using cracking software on new CDs?

    huh?

  3. On 11/3/05 12:55 PM, Wesley Johnson said:

    no no. i cleared up the definition. rootkits aren’t just cracking.

  5. On 11/3/05 1:57 PM, Dan Diemer said:

    Apperantly you can aslo use the sony rootkit to hide from World Of Warcraft’s “spyware cheater catcher” Warden if you wnated to run a bot or something.

  7. On 11/3/05 2:52 PM, Joshua Stellar said:

    I think that everyone is a little confused about what a rootkit is and what makes them so bad. Wes if you want you can call me and I will explain it to you. This is what I went to school for.

  9. On 11/3/05 3:42 PM, carl said:

    Why not just read the first link to understand what a rootkit is, it’s basically described in the very first paragraph.

  11. On 11/3/05 4:43 PM, Matthew Spiel said:

    this sucks… i recently bought a sony cd and used it on my comp and it loaded a external player from the cd… bummer

  13. On 11/3/05 4:53 PM, Vince Wagner said:

    I listened to the Leo thing and it sounds like the sony rootkit is pretty beastly to get rid of, too.

  15. On 11/3/05 5:42 PM, orrin said:

    if everyone wasn’t a pirate like those people at wal-mart then sony wouldn’t have to do that. lol

  17. On 11/3/05 10:07 PM, Matt said:

    ARG, matey!

  19. On 11/4/05 12:28 AM, Bad Apple Brandon said:

    If you delete it it can really mess things up. Also, spyware detection software will remove it without telling you and then things are bad – because the file it removes is like an altered version of your system kernel. After it is gone your CD Drive won’t show up in your “my computer”. And you can’t remove it manually because Windows tells you it is like a device manager instead of a program. You have to re-install Windows to fix anything.

    DO NOT USE THESE CDS!

    It won’t effect me for two reaosns. 1.) I am a Mac user. 2.) I won’t support a label that is going to punish me for actually buying the CD. Backwards if you ask me. Like when they ruined the mars volta artwork with the “NO PIRACY” crap all over it (tray, bookelt, AND disc… give me a break), right over top the design work. I thought to myself “I PAID for this. The only people who will see this warning is those who buy it!”

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