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Another Sony Rootkit?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the slow-learners dept.

An anonymous reader writes to tell us F-Secure is reporting that the drivers for Sony Microvault USB sticks uses rootkit techniques to hide a directory from the Windows API. "This USB stick with rootkit-like behavior is closely related to the Sony BMG case. First of all, it is another case where rootkit-like cloaking is ill advisedly used in commercial software. Also, the USB sticks we ordered are products of the same company — Sony Corporation. The Sony MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reader software that comes with the USB stick installs a driver that is hiding a directory under "c:\windows\". So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place."

4 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sony by hackstraw · · Score: 3, Funny

    It started when they became an entertainment corp, rather than a technology corp.

    So, are rootkits entertainment or technology?

  2. Re:Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm finding this all quite entertaining, I must say. So I think that's your answer.

  3. Wikipedia? by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, it sounds like a rootkit as described by wikipedia.

    Not for long! *rushes to edit wikipedia*

    "A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system, except when it's with Sony products"

    There! Now by definition, sony's isn't a rootkit anymore! :D

    (Legal Disclaimer: This was actually a joke, I didn't vandalize wikipedia or the like. <-- you can't never be too sure these days)

  4. If it looks like a duck... by IBBoard · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck,...

    Then lawyers for some large corporation will argue that it's actually some previously rare form of feathered marsupial?