Sony BMG Rootkit Vulnerabilities Still Widespread

from the take-my-machine-please dept

While Sony's CEO blows off the rootkit fiasco, damage from it is still widespread, with a researcher saying this weekend that machines on at least 350,000 networks still have the vulnerability opened by copy-protection software from Sony BMG CDs, including military and government computers. The number is down from when the similar survey was run a month earlier in November, showing 568,000 networks with computers that had asked to lookup a server used by the software. Of course, this only accounts for the XCP software; there's no word on how many machines were infected by MediaMax, the other copy protection Sony BMG used, that opened security holes in users' PCs.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Dylan Johnston, 16 Jan 2006 @ 2:42pm

    Sorry but.

    O RLY?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris H, 16 Jan 2006 @ 5:07pm

    No Subject Given

    Hopefully, most of them are behind strong firewalls with good (functioning and up-to-date) virus scanners and they don't allow users to plug in their own laptops....


    what are the odds... slim to none if their anything like my company.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Andrew Strasser, 16 Jan 2006 @ 10:15pm

    Geez

    That bad eh... WOOPS!



    Someone in the company before development:

    "Well we'll only lose small profits from this as consumers won't respond so we'll continue production."

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.