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

Rootkit? No evidence of that.

[krisamico]

It is disappointing that the article does indeed call this a rootkit without providing proof. All I see is some DRM shovelware that is surreptitiously installed and hard to remove, which is bad enough without resorting to hyperbole. IMO, the article needs to prove that this software maliciously intercepts communication or opens holes to be able to use that word.

Re:Answer: This is truly evil

[shanen]

Interesting questions. My response it that, at least in America, proud ignorance and mindless greed became the fashions of the day. I think the long-term results will not be pretty.

Root cause? I actually blame it on the "free lunch" mentality that led to advertiser-sponsored "free" radio broadcasts, which led to even worse advertising on television, and which is now threatening the Internet, too. It's not as though they were unaware of the dangers, and the radio stations were originally required to consider the public interest. However, in the long run the profits have eclipsed everything else. Advertisers are not interested in creating well-educated citizens and careful voters. Their concern is with creating pliable shopping robots.

Have you already forgotten the famous BushCo advice about not launching "new products" in August? So how'd you like to buy a nice war?

As regards the Sony comment, that wasn't completely a joke. I really do own some Sony stock, and I really can't decide what to do about it. On the other hand, I certainly don't think that Sony is going to pay a whole lot of attention to what any minor shareholder does or thinks. However, if I react to every news item that is related to my stocks, the only beneficiaries will by the stockbrokers, since they rake their commissions off the top.