Greg writes: : I'm curious about this Sony root kit, how can I detect it on my machine? past stuff I've posted to PF about rootkits: Seems rootkit software (designed to prevent 'cheating') has been turned to the dark side by intreped gamerz who use it to hide their cheating activities! http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/03/defeat_wow_spyware_u.html "Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, have deployed spyware to catch "cheaters." If you want to avoid the spyware, you can install Sony's rootkit DRM (just load a store-bought CD with Sony's DRM on it) and then use its cloaking capabilities to hide your " cheating application. what is the Sony rootkit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4406178.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit "According to this Dutch article the Sony DRM software (or rootkit, if you may prefer) contains code from the LAME MP3 encoder project, which is licensed under the LGPL. However, the source code has not also been distrbuted, hence breaching the license" http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/15/1250229 Sony however is recalling all rootkit installing CD's: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1508480.htm http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,69601,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 "Sony claimed the rootkit didn't phone home when it did. On Nov. 4, Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, demonstrated the company's disdain for its customers when he said, "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" "This drama is also about incompetence. Sony's latest rootkit-removal tool actually leaves a gaping vulnerability".. "The rootkit has even been found on computers run by the Department of Defense, to the Department of Homeland Security's displeasure" "estimates are that more than half a million computers worldwide are infected with this Sony rootkit. Those are amazing infection numbers, making this one of the most serious internet epidemics of all time -- on a par with worms like Blaster, Slammer, Code Red and Nimda" "worse than not detecting it ..was the deafening silence that followed. When a new piece of malware is found, security companies fall over themselves to clean our computers and inoculate our networks. Not in this case" "The only thing that makes this rootkit legitimate is that a multinational corporation put it on your computer, not a criminal organization" "Perhaps the only security company that deserves praise is F-Secure, the first and the loudest critic of Sony's actions. And Sysinternals, of course.." "What happens when the creators of malware collude with the very companies we hire to protect us from that malware?" "Microsoft Updates Sony Rootkit Removal Tool " http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Article2337.phtml
