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More On Sony Rootkit
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-11-08
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Sony BMG angered many with their recent tactic of putting spyware on their music CDs to protect copyrights. They offered a remedy in the form of a patch pretty quickly.
The same individuals who discovered the original problem claims fix isn't much better because it can crash your computer and destroy data files in the process.
The problems, originally discovered by Mark Russinovich at SysInternals and a team over at F-Secure, stemmed from a rootkit Sony included as part of their digital rights management package on 20 different CDs. Many considered the tactic rather underhanded and Sony could face legal action as rootkits are considered spyware and rather invasive with the potential of a door being opened by hackers to wreak havoc.
Sony did distribute a fix for the problem but the cure was almost as bad as the disease because the cure crashes Windows and causes some folks to actually lose data, another move of sheer madness.
Another point some are making is Sony could press charges of people attempt to alter the DRM because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law states people can't alter the copyright protection put in place the CD manufacturer. If Sony were to pursue such action, their PR might commit seppuku.
Brian Krebs over at the Washington Post said a reader of his emailed him and said he was working to resolve some problems regarding the anti-piracy program on his own. One can assume he will eventually succeed.
Once again, this just reiterates the need for record companies to reconsider their business model because eventually, this one will be even more obsolete than it currently is.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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