Rootkit follow up

Just a follow up to that last post… Sony has released a program to remove the cloaking technology that hides their files (the rootkit) so if you have installed the software that comes with one of these CDs then be sure to remove it this way. Here’s a nice program to scan your computer for rootkits. It doesn’t remove them but it lets your know if your security has been compromised. Often the only way to get rid of them for sure is to format your hard drive.

The CD that (could have) killed my computer

I recently bought a new CD from Switchfoot called “Nothing is Sound”. Its my new favourite CD but it has a dark side to it… not the music but what is physically on the CD. It contains Sony’s shady anti-priacy software on it. What’s so bad about this software? Well it uses something called a “rootkit” to hide itself from detection by any other software. Sony’s software can’t be uninstalled without contacting Sony and going through some hoops. See this Washington Post article for more on that. Now, I don’t pirate music and I have a legitimate CD for every MP3 on my computer (no file sharing either), but the problem is that this rootkit leaves computers open to attack by hackers and viruses because all a hacker needs to do is make a virus that starts in $sys$ and its undetectable by any anti-virus software. Fortunately, the day before I bought the cd I saw an article on Slashdot about this problem so I had a heads up. When the CD is inserted a window comes up with the license agreement. If you agree then it installs its DRM software on your computer... locking the songs to your computer and not allowing you to play them on other computers if they’re ripped from the CD. The ironic thing is that if someone did want to pirate the CD, there is nothing stopping them at all. All it took to prevent the software from being installed was to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and close the program from the task manager and I was free to copy all the songs as MP3s onto my hard drive using Musicmatch Jukebox. Record companies need to learn that stuff like this is just going to make your legitimate customers hate them even more when people computers suddenly fill with viruses after listening to the latest CD, while doing nothing to stop piracy at all.