Sony Caught In Yet Another Rootkit Mess?
from the don't-they-know-to-check-for-these-things? dept
Sony is a big company, and various parts and subsidiaries are pretty much totally disconnected from other areas of the company, but given the disastrous PR that Sony had to deal with following the original rootkit debacle (which really was more of a BMG issue than a Sony one) you would think that perhaps someone higher up at Sony corporate would have sent around a memo or something to all the rest of Sony, suggesting that they check around and make sure that none of their products had rootkit-like functionality. Either that didn't happen... or someone didn't get the memo. It appears that a line of USB flash drive sticks that Sony sold have been discovered to install rootkit-like functionality that hides a folder on users' computers. And, of course, just like the original Sony rootkit, this hidden folder is perfect for malware writers to use as hiding places for their malware. While this one probably isn't as big a deal as last time around, let's see if Sony figured out that brushing it off because no one knows what rootkits are isn't exactly the best response to such a discovery. In the meantime, this highlights (once again) how weak many security programs are that they don't automatically look for this type of action in order to prevent it from happening in the first place.
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not quite 100%
http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/08/27/1334210.shtml
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Re: not quite 100%
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Good Thing I Swore Off Sony
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Needless to say, I walked out with the LG.
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That's just unacceptable, in any event. Too many companies try to pull this BS now, with so much competition, it's easy to just avoid them.
Oh and the LG DVD recorder had been working flawlessly.
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@Mike: This is actually much worse than the previous breach, because it's much easier to take advantage of. I can't browse the folder in windows, but a simple line like this on the console will hide some malicious software:
copy myevilprogram.exe c:windowssonyhiddenfolder
I understand the other article I read correctly, not only is the program file now hidden from virus scanners and the like, but if it starts running the process won't show up either in places like task manager either.
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Out of curiosity....
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It's in the demo's too
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Never
BTW their movies rip great. LOL
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Same old same old
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SMSG
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Why do we need sony and the other big electronics
It seems the time for these mammoth corporations that produce more waste than anything else need to go the way of the dinosaurs. Economically their model just doesn't make good sense and they only survive because of all their intense lobbying and political favors.
I for one am sick of enormous businesses and all their crapware. Show me a good product that MS or SONY makes and I will show you and independent small company that has a better solution. The big guys need to go away and let the market start working again. Time to bring out the big stick IMHO.
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Post #14
But how will all of the smaller companies buy political favours??
I know - they'll form together and make one large entity. That way they can still buy politicians...oh wait, that already happened.
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Re: Post #14
They won't buy any real favors because they are too small to have the lobbying power of a major corporation. The idea is to keep our country representing the people not some disembodied perversion of capitalism known as modern corporations.
"I know - they'll form together and make one large entity. That way they can still buy politicians...oh wait, that already happened."
Then we take out the big stick and beat them back again. It is all part of balancing our country's interest. Despite what many people believe nowadays breaking up large coporations is a good thing for the little guy (Which is in the majority last time I checked).
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Re:
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Memo
Did they get the memo?
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Proletariat Pigs, Sarasin Swine!
I have a SONY DVD drive and whenever I load a gaming application, I run a 50% chance of getting the dreaded "Conflict with disk emulation software" message. If I run the games on the Yamaha or a Generic drive, no such problem.
I have not used any emulation software ever. More proof, that Bill Gates *is* the anti-Christ.
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Proud to have a life time ban on buying Sony products.
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Anyways Sony are actively boycotted by me also. I only allow current Sony products in the house because my parents will moan to Hell and that drives me potty. I won't touch the Sony products if I can help it. Mother's Sony mini stereo doesn't want to read many of my legit CDs despite the fact that they work on everything else. Very suspicious
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Boycott Sony
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Microsoft to blame?
Who the **** thought it was a good idea to allow software to tell the operating system to create hidden folders?
The meeting probably went something like this:
"Hey, Joe, wouldn't it be cool if applications could create folders that were hidden from the user and that could hidden from virus-scanners and anti-spyware programs?"
"Man, that would be awesome. Just think about all the legitimate reasons why companies would want to hide their files. Nah, who are we kidding. Let's open as many backdoors as possible. We'll let the 'patch department' issue a security HotFix five years from now to fix it."
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Re: Microsoft to blame?
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Bioshock
So my advice to any other dads out there is F**K ATI and F**K BioShock - go spend your money on something else for the kids.
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