Sony DRM Installs a Rootkit?

An anonymous read writes "SysInternals.com guru Mark Russinovich has a detailed investigation of a rootkit from Sony Music. It's installed with a DRM-encumbered music CD, Van Zant's "Get Right with the Man". (Mmmm, delicious irony!) The rootkit introduces several security holes into the system that could be exploited by others, such as hiding any executable file that starts with '$sys$'. Russinovich also identifies several programming bugs in the method it uses to hook system calls, and chronicles the painful steps he had to take to 'exorcise the daemon' from his system." This house is clear.

Comments

Sony means to degrade society

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why I hate Hip Hop and Rap. Sony and Hiphop and Rap are rootkits on the good parts of humanity.

Re:OS's fault

[kerohazel]

Some special account... like, the Administrator account, which almost all Windows users I know log in as all the time?

Rootkits exploit weaknesses in an OS. Of course the company that made said OS would be wise to get rid of those holes. But you can't blame everything on the OS. If I make software that crashes every 15 seconds, it might not be Windows, it might be that I just can't code for crap. If I'm Sony and I make software that has a rootkit hidden in it, it might just be that I'm at fault for being negligent.

Meh

[cortana]

I really can't bring myself to care.

The morale of the story is basically, "ignorant Windows users get fucked again". There is no story here! :)

Trespass

[Sloppy]

A person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and security on his or her home computer. Any attempt to circumvent this privacy or security should be construed as trespass. .. By removing the Sony-installed malware, Mark has broken the law. But so is trespass illegal, so tell me, which is a greater abomination?

Most people don't like it, but I have to fall into "blame the victim mode" here. What Sony did, was not trespass. It is 100% impossible for a passive piece of media (a CD) to trespass on a computer. The computer, working as the user's agent, actively loaded and executed code from the CD.

The user ran the malware; it didn't run itself.

What people need to understand, is that if you use Microsoft's desktop shell, then clicking on an icon is pretty much the same thing as downloading and executing software from someone's website. Don't do it!

A person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy on their computer, if that person's habits are to routinely invite strangers to run software on their computer with no restrictions. Saying they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, is like saying a person who has unprotected anal sex with three strangers per day, has a reasonable expectation of not getting AIDS.

What you do, matters! I think it is very inaccurate to call what Sony did "trespass," and it only encourages users to continue irresponsible behavior.

DRM *always* implies compromised security

[Sloppy]

There's a slight difference between a copy restricted CD and an "install a rootkit on your computer" CD, though...

No, there isn't. You're so close to enlightenment.. can you taste it?

There is no possible way to implement DRM, other than to compromise the computer and make it behave in a way that is contrary to the interests of its owner.

If the computer has only one master (the owner), then DRM is impossible. What Sony has done, is persuade their media customers to give their computers to Sony, in exchange for music. IMHO, that's a bad trade, but what can I say, sometimes I don't understand other people's decisions.