interesting article on Sony spyware

[rchadd]

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

[Harry Potter]

No surprise there.

[MameJunkie]

Interesting read.  PS3 XBox360

[allroy1975]

that's why I only steal pirate download get my music from p2p clients.  much safer.   

Allroy

[ChadTower]

Somehow, I have Ipod services installed on my machine at home and can't get them off.  I've never used, had, held, or been within ten feet of an Ipod.

[Harry Potter]

Somehow, I have Ipod services installed on my machine at home and can't get them off.  I've never used, had, held, or been within ten feet of an Ipod.

If you've installed Quicktime 7 recently, it installs i-tunes and all the associated crap with it.

[ChadTower]

that's probably it, then... morons.

[Stingray]

Click a link? That sounds like work. Just what are you trying to pull here?

-S

[patrickl]

I installed quicktime too and for some reason I cannot uninstall it. I even get this icon on the system tray. What is it that everyone thinks you need their crap on your system tray. As if I use Quicktime all day.

Anyway, about Sony. I saw an article that they released a patch to make the protection visible and uninstallable.
http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

I'm amazed that they actually listen. Allthough I assume that when you get rid of the protection stuff you cannot listen to the CD anymore either.

[Harry Potter]

I installed quicktime too and for some reason I cannot uninstall it. I even get this icon on the system tray. What is it that everyone thinks you need their crap on your system tray. As if I use Quicktime all day.

Anyway, about Sony. I saw an article that they released a patch to make the protection visible and uninstallable.
http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

I'm amazed that they actually listen. Allthough I assume that when you get rid of the protection stuff you cannot listen to the CD anymore either.

Or they install more hard-to-find crap on your PC

[Crazy Cooter]

The issue is with how hackers can now use the same code to hide something besides Sony's DRM:
"For only $14.99 you get a well done RING0 rootkit that is able to hide vs Warden/Hackshield," wrote a poster identified as "Outlaw." All some has to do, he said, was "1) Buy the CD, 2) Run the CD, 3) rename 'myhack.exe' to '$sys$myhack.exe.'

Also, game cheats can be undetectable:
"Blizzard installs a client -- dubbed spyware by some -- called "Warden" that sniffs out World of Warcraft cheaters by scanning active processes and comparing them to known cheat software. Not surprisingly, Warden doesn't "see" any files that are hidden with Sony's content protection rootkit; all a hacker need do is add the '$sys$' prefix to filenames."

FYI, even with the patch, there is still "stuff" on your computer:
"The copy protection scheme itself, however, remains on the PC, and cannot be removed without special tools and a complicated, risky procedure. F-Secure, in fact, continued Thursday to recommend that users request additional software from Sony to remove all traces of the DRM software. Users must fill out this Web form to make the request."

So maybe even those without a new cd should install the patch so they can "see" anything that is maliciously installed with Sony's code.  I don't know.  We'll see if the AV & spy tools are updated to detect this code.

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20051104/tc_cmp/173402718

[Crazy Cooter]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4427606.stm

Now anti-virus companies have discovered three malicious programs that use XCP's stealthy capabilities if they find it installed on a compromised PC.

"The development we feared most from Sony's inclusion of rootkit technology to conceal its DRM software was its use to conceal malicious code," said David Emm from security firm Kaspersky Labs.

"Unfortunately, it seems our fears were well-grounded."
...
At last count six class-action lawsuits have been started against the company.

As the Boycott Sony blog pointed out, the appearance of these viruses could make it much easier for lawyers to argue that the XCP software can cause real harm to a user's computer.

[Crazy Cooter]

Those lawsuits are going to have a hand from Microsoft:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4434852.stm
The software giant said the XCP copy protection system counted as malicious software under the rules it uses to define what Windows should be protected against.

It is planning to include detection and removal tools for XCP in its weekly update to its anti-spyware software.

The news came as Sony BMG suspended production of CDs that use XCP.

[patrickl]

The plot thickens:
ZDNet: Did Sony 'rootkit' pluck from open source?

[Crazy Cooter]

That's funny!

How stupid can you get?