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View Full Version : Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far



IronBits
11-01-2005, 10:07 AM
Last week when I was testing the latest version of RootkitRevealer (RKR) I ran a scan on one of my systems and was shocked to see evidence of a rootkit. Rootkits are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic and security software, and they are usually employed by malware attempting to keep their implementation hidden (see my “Unearthing Rootkits” article from thre June issue of Windows IT Pro Magazine for more information on rootkits). The RKR results window reported a hidden directory, several hidden device drivers, and a hidden application:

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html


I closed the player and expected $sys$DRMServer’s CPU usage to drop to zero, but was dismayed to see that it was still consuming between one and two percent. It appears I was paying an unknown CPU penalty for just having the process active on my system.

Question begs to be asked, how many people bring music CDs to work and play them on company computers?

From another article...
The CD Get Right with the Man by the Van Zant brothers installed some Malware which prompty cloaked itself and started to use a chunk of the computer's resources.

Digital Parasite
11-01-2005, 10:40 AM
Very scary, especially for DC people, 2% is a huge drop in stats!!! :spank:

Shish
11-01-2005, 11:01 AM
Jeez, some more crap to look out for.
I`ve been pretty lucky myself so far but only by taking a lot of time and using multiple progs to find these things but I am surprised by the increasing number of other people`s pcs I get to clean out and disinfect even after I`ve told them what they should be doing to protect themselves.