Revisiting the Infamous Sony BMG Rootkit Scandal 10 Years Later (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Hackers really have had their way with Sony over the past year, taking down its Playstation Network last Christmas Day and creating an international incident by exposing confidential data from Sony Pictures Entertainment in response to The Interview. Some say all this is karmic payback for what's become known as a seminal moment in malware history: Sony BMG sneaking rootkits into music CDs 10 years ago in the name of digital rights management. 'In a sense, it was the first thing Sony did that made hackers love to hate them,' says Bruce Schneier, CTO for Resilient Systems. Sony's scheme was revealed on Halloween of 2005, and was followed by a botched response, issuing and reissuing of rootkit removal tools, and lawsuits. There are object lessons from the incident which are relevant today.

Comments

Me too!

[fizzer06]

made hackers love to hate them

I'm not a hacker, but I hate Sony too.

how to connect cause and effect?

[Noah Haders]

I wish it could be made clearer that a lot of the hacking was motivated by rage over the rootkit and the PS3 linux block. If it were more clear, companies may think twice about giving their customers the shaft.

The Object lessons

[MrKaos]

For Sony there is little doubt the object lessons were "Now how do we do this and not get caught?"

Re:The Object lessons

[whoever57]

For Sony there is little doubt the object lessons were "Now how do we do this? "

FTFY

Given the tiny fine that Sony was required to pay for the rootkit fiasco, I doubt that they really care about getting caught.

Re:Not the first thing

[plover]

Amen. Sony has been evil since they introduced DRM at the commercial level. "Copy bits" on DAT, on Minidiscs, CSS, HDCP, the list of shit Sony has secretly shoveled on the public is why I don't buy Sony, and why I recommend friends and family choose anything else.

Re:Please: You WISH you were me... apk

[bigfinger76]

No one gives a shit, APK. Not one person here gives a shit about anything you have to "say".

Re:Rocking With My Sony

[Opportunist]

Actually, yes, there could have been something (and actually, there still is) that Sony could do to make me a customer again. Their products are not bad from a technical point of view. They last. They are well engineered. They still are most of what made me (and I dare say us) customers two decades ago.

There is a simple thing that would have to change to make me a customer again: Treat me like a customer, not like a credit card. Treat me like a partner, not an enemy. The main problem I have with Sony today is that I feel belittled and ridiculed, if not outright offended, by the way they treat me. With vendor lock-in and the deliberate removal of functionality for no other reason than trying to force me to buy again.

It does not work that way.

There is a very simple way to make me buy something from a brand again: Give me what I want. If I know I get what I want from Sony, you need not force me to buy your stuff next time I am in the market for something you make. I'll gladly and willingly actually seek out this brand that I was satisfied with last time.

Just like it was 2-3 decades ago. People are lazy. They don't shop around if they are happy with what they get from a brand. They don't like to experiment, especially when it comes to things that are a considerable investment. Just look at cars. This only changes after bad experiences.