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Sony Installs Rootkits On Your PC
Nov 06 2005 12:55am

Tido
 - Student
Tido
It's the holiday season. Along with Xbox 360s, I'm sure some of us might get a CD or two. If your CD is from Sony, however, you will get an extra feature: a rootkit. A rootkit is "a set of tools frequently used by an intruder after cracking a computer system. These tools are intended to conceal running processes and files or system data, which helps an intruder maintain access to a system for malicious purposes." The rootkit restricts what you can do with your own CDROM/R/RW and will corrupt Window's ability to access that drive if you attempt to remove it.

Check it out
More
Detailed Info
WoW Hackers Using Sony BMG Rootkit


This post was edited by Tido on Nov 08 2005 06:17pm.

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Comments
Dec 22 2005 06:58pm

(Jedi)Obi-JK
 - Student
 (Jedi)Obi-JK

New updates in this matter!!!!

Sony worse than ever!

Summary:
Even if you decline the EULA they installed the rootkit anyways, that is messed up.


http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/12/22/160206.shtml?tid=233&tid=123&tid=17
_______________
Silent Bob (Kevin Smith): You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.

-Steve (Obi)


Nov 22 2005 10:18pm

AvaloN
 - Student
 AvaloN

Rofl

VGG Sony :D

Nov 22 2005 10:09pm

JavaGuy
 - Student
 JavaGuy

Well that was a ton of money well spent by Sony. I wonder what it cost them to develop the copy protection so easily defeated by scotch tape.

:)


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My signature is only one line. You're welcome.

Nov 22 2005 08:48pm

Bubu
 - Hubbub
 Bubu

Interesting.
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make install -not war

Nov 22 2005 03:43pm

Alex Dkana
 - Staff
 Alex Dkana

Quote:
:mad: Down with the tyranny and evil that is Sony!

lol i second this!
_______________
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield | Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken | Rhaiko D'kana - SWTOR EU Guild Co-Founder | Is it what the teacher, teaches? Or what the student learns? A Dkana

Nov 22 2005 03:39pm

R2D2
 - Staff
 R2D2

:mad: Down with the tyranny and evil that is Sony!
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Jedi Master Yoda
Dual Saberist


Nov 22 2005 03:36pm

JavaGuy
 - Student
 JavaGuy

I hadn't considered the identity theft angle. Having one's identity stolen can ruin a person's life--I mean ruin it, for years and years, or even permanently. If it happened to me because of Sony's spyware, I'd certainly sue them big-time.
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My signature is only one line. You're welcome.

Nov 22 2005 04:47am

Bubu
 - Hubbub
 Bubu

... and it goes on.
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make install -not war

Nov 16 2005 05:48pm

(Jedi)Obi-JK
 - Student
 (Jedi)Obi-JK

Quote:
I wonder...

On those particular CDs they are recalling, that they used invasive techniques to prevent pirating of:

-How much money would they have lost due to piracy?
-How much of that loss would actually have been prevented by their software?
-And how much did it cost them to develop--and then recall!--the anti-piracy mechanism? (I can't imagine that recalls are cheap.)


Don't forget the lawyer fee's and class action against them.
_______________
Silent Bob (Kevin Smith): You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.

-Steve (Obi)


Nov 16 2005 03:08pm

JavaGuy
 - Student
 JavaGuy

I wonder...

On those particular CDs they are recalling, that they used invasive techniques to prevent pirating of:

-How much money would they have lost due to piracy?
-How much of that loss would actually have been prevented by their software?
-And how much did it cost them to develop--and then recall!--the anti-piracy mechanism? (I can't imagine that recalls are cheap.)
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My signature is only one line. You're welcome.

Nov 16 2005 02:16pm

Bubu
 - Hubbub
 Bubu

They're doing it
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make install -not war

Nov 14 2005 04:36am

Bubu
 - Hubbub
 Bubu

It's all about the money.
_______________
make install -not war

Nov 11 2005 05:19pm

(Jedi)Obi-JK
 - Student
 (Jedi)Obi-JK

I'm not sure Sony cares. They obviously new they were doing this. They have released no public apology/withdraw. I am fairly certain, they feel they are doing what is best for them, and that is the end of the story.

P.S. The entire paragraph above it speculation, I have no sources for any of that. That is just how I see the situation.

P.S.S. Has Sony had a press conference or anything about this?

Quote:
NPR mentioned on the news today about lawsuits popping up in the US against Sony. i wonder if the guy at Sony who came up with this idea is gonna have a job after this is all over.

_______________
Silent Bob (Kevin Smith): You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.

-Steve (Obi)


Nov 11 2005 04:16pm

3th
 - Retired
 3th

NPR mentioned on the news today about lawsuits popping up in the US against Sony. i wonder if the guy at Sony who came up with this idea is gonna have a job after this is all over.
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this is the internet, be serious damn it!

Nov 11 2005 06:46am

Senor Hat
 - Student
 Senor Hat

and the products they make arent always very good anyway
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I have beaten The Internet.
The end guy was hard.


Nov 11 2005 06:45am

(Jedi)Obi-JK
 - Student
 (Jedi)Obi-JK

Yeah, I really hope people aren't just talk here.

Seriously, boycott this company.

Sony is not some company making products no one else can compete with.

Mostly they make average overpriced electronics.
_______________
Silent Bob (Kevin Smith): You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.

-Steve (Obi)


Nov 11 2005 02:53am

Bubu
 - Hubbub
 Bubu

Also, this.
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make install -not war

Nov 10 2005 10:54pm

aph3x
 - Retired
 aph3x

gg sony

Nov 10 2005 07:27pm

JavaGuy
 - Student
 JavaGuy

This will lead to big-time lawsuits.

Honestly, rootkits should be considered Trojan horses, and those who distribute them should be prosecuted accordingly. Sony will probably face numerous civil lawsuits because of this...but there should be criminal charges and prison time for the decision-makers involved in this. The media makes such a big deal about Enron. Sony is causing far more economic damage in terms of raw dollars with its rootkit. The courts jump all over virus authors--as well they should--because of how many estimated billions of dollars in lost productivity they cause. Will they do the same to Sony? I doubt it.
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My signature is only one line. You're welcome.

Nov 10 2005 02:19pm

Ataris
 - Milwaukees Finest
 Ataris

First virus out now via the rootkit.. awesome stuff :D Was found today at 14:00 (GMT+2) :):) way to go Sony :D:D:D

-Ataris <3
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Nov 08 2005 10:33pm

solitude
 - Jedi Council
 solitude

Hopefully this will encourage piracy and a boycott , resulting in a loss of revenue for Sony. It is unlikely to happen though.

Sony disgust me.

They take stupidity, and elevate it well past the art form the French took it to.

n1 guys.
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Nov 08 2005 10:04pm

DarthMike
 - Student
 DarthMike

PLAYSTATION STILL OWNZ! >.>
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Nov 08 2005 06:15pm

Tido
 - Student
 Tido

rofl @ rootkit hiding from DRM!

Here are some removal instructions:
Quote:
-Remove the files in WindowsSystem32$sys$filesystem using a DOS prompt.
-Reboot and your CD drive will be gone, but you'll at least be able to see the registry keys that it was hiding.
-Remove from the registry stuff with references to: "$sys" or aries.sys. You may need to get a copy of psexec to load regedit as the system process to delete many of these keys. Just run: psexec –s –i –d regedit.exe and then try deleting or editing them, as needed.
-To reenable the CDRom drive, you want to look in HKLMSystemCurrentControlSetEnum and subfolders, and remove references to "$sys$crater" and "cor.sys", but you may not want to delete these keys entirely. Some of them may have just been added on to, so edit them and remove the words "$sys$crater" and so forth.
-After rebooting, your CD will return and your system will be clean.

And then you should disable autorun and never, ever, run software off a music CD. Or buy anything from Sony ever again.


Nov 08 2005 03:58am

(Jedi)Obi-JK
 - Student
 (Jedi)Obi-JK

Quote:
legally they probably will get away from it, but technically they won't. People will find a way around the rootkits and learn how to defeat them. Sony thought the PSP would be unhackable too, HA!


Hahaha, thats so funny, you can actually use the Sony's rootkit to bypass itself!

Quote:

Matt Nikki in the comments section discovered that the DRM can be bypassed simply by renaming your favourite ripping program with "$sys$" at the start of the filename and ripping the CD using this file, which is now undetectable even by the Sony DRM. You can use the Sony rootkit itself to bypass their own DRM!"


Link to full article on slashdot
http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/11/07/1221209.shtml?tid=233&tid=207&tid=10

I'm sorry this is just too funny, using Sony's own methods to bypass their evil, someone needs to give that kid a cookie. :)
_______________
Silent Bob (Kevin Smith): You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.

-Steve (Obi)


Nov 08 2005 12:52am

Tido
 - Student
 Tido

legally they probably will get away from it, but technically they won't. People will find a way around the rootkits and learn how to defeat them. Sony thought the PSP would be unhackable too, HA!

This comment was edited by Tido on Nov 08 2005 12:53am.

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