Sony's Rootkit Saga continues. -Mark Russinovich talks about Sony not wanting you to uninstall their software. Great read (if you're a techie).
This has really gone a bit far now, and I can't understand why the mainstream press hasn't picked up on it. Sony are doing a really bad thing with this rootkit technology.
As an overview for the non-techie; if you use a Sony CD (an audio CD) with enhanced multimedia content on your Windows PC, it quietly installs some software without telling you. This software is poorly written, and is a particularly nasty form of malware called a rootkit which means that it hides itself away so you can't tell it's there. Sony's rootkit leaves a big gaping hole for other malicious software to abuse your PC. It also works in a way that
could lead to system crashes. It's difficult to remove, and possibly sends information back to Sony. Sony refuse to admit that any of this bad, but it really and truly is.
I was considering buying a PlayStation3 next year, but Sony have probably just lost a customer. It's not just the fact that they're installing rootkit software on my PC without my permission (which is pretty terrible), but the fact that they won't admit that there's anything wrong with that, or apologise, or make it easy to remove is shocking.
Do not put Sony CD's in your Windows PC. Even better; stop buying Sony stuff.
Update: - the first virus to take advantage of the Sony DRM is already in the wild,
according to the Register. This is real bad - your anti-virus software
cannot scan this file, as the Sony rootkit enables it to hide so completely that the kernel will report to the anti-virus that there is no file there at all.
Also, take a look at the
other linked article describing the response of Sony Digital's President.
Sony = bad.
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