Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Mark Russinovich, of SysInternals.com, has discovered a so-called "
rootkit
" which is installed by
Sony
's new
digital rights management
-protected music compact disks (CDs). A rootkit is a common name for malicious software that is used by computer criminals to hide their presence on a compromised computer. Rootkits frequently contain hidden files and are designed to be difficult for the user to detect and remove.
Russinovich classifies Sony's rootkit as
malware
because it is alleged to introduce several serious security holes, one of which can be exploited to hide files and prevent the user from removing them. In particular, all executable files which begin with '$sys$' are hidden when the software is installed. He points out that these security holes could be exploited by hackers, or other malware producers besides Sony.
Russinovich explains that naively removing the files will result in a crippling of the operating system on the user's computer. He provides an explanation of the difficult step required to remove Sony's malware.
Playing the same CDs on computers not running the Windows operating system, or on a non-computer based CD player remains safe. As removing Sony's malware would violate the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
's anti-circumvention provisions,
ripping
the CDs on computers running a non-Windows operating system may be the best legal and technically safe option for those who wish to listen to them under Windows.
The software is automatically installed when a Sony CD is played on a computer, and is not mentioned in their
EULA
. The rootkit has been commercially developed by
First 4 Internet
and licensed to Sony.
Other rights management techniques used by music publishers recently include breaking the
Red Book
compact disc standard format. This technique causes many CD players to not be able to play the new CDs, but also protects against casual ripping.
Fiona Apple
's recent album release in the United States uses such technology.
Sources
- Mark Russinovich. "
Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far
" —
Mark's Sysinternals Blog
, October 31, 2005
- Andrew Orlowski. "
Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows
" —
The Register
, November 1, 2005
- "
Sony DRM Installs a Rootkit?
" —
Slashdot
, October 31, 2005
- "
More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit"
" —
Slashdot
, November 2, 2005
- "
Sony rootkits your system
" —
The Inquirer
, November 1, 2005
- Brian Krebs. "
Sony Raids Hacker Playbook
" —
Washington Post
, November 1, 2005
- "
Sony Music CDs surreptitiously install DRM Trojan horses on PCs
" —
ZDNet
, November 1, 2005
- Robert McMillan. "
Sony ships sneaky DRM software
" —
Computerworld
, November 3, 2005
- Mark Ward. "
Sony slated over anti-piracy CD
" —
BBC News
, November 3, 2005
External links
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This page is
archived
, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{
editprotected
}} to the
talk page
along with your corrections, and it will be
brought to the attention of
the
administrators
.
Please note that due to our
archival policy
, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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