Virus Writers use the tools Sony gave them.

Rob Updegrove 10 Nov, 2005 at 2:04pm ET Article published in Tech

Reuters reports that Verifiable evidence of the existence of viruses that utilize Sony’s rootkit copy-protection software has emerged.

When recipients click on an attachment, they install malware, which may tear down the firewall and gives hackers access to a PC. The malware hides by using Sony software that is also hidden — the software would have been installed on a computer when consumers played Sony’s copy-protected music CDs.

“This leaves Sony in a real tangle. It was already getting bad press about its copy-protection software, and this new hack exploit will make it even worse,” said Sophos’s Graham Cluley.

Source: Reuters

Comments

10 Nov 2005 ~ 2:38pm Straight_Man Kaspersky confirms this, adding that the malused\malwared Sony rootkit exploiter itself can be loaded onto remote machines.

Kasperky's viral/trojan name is:

Backdoor.Win32.Breplibot.b

and this is being mass-spammed.

More info at:

http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog
10 Nov 2005 ~ 3:01pm QCH Good points Straight Man.... All I can say is

!!! GOOD ONE SONY !!!
10 Nov 2005 ~ 3:53pm Leonardo This is lower than anything Microsoft has done. This is the height of callousness (or outright stupidity) by a consumer tech company. I wish this would get exposure by the mainstream media. (Unfortunately, most of the general media's reporters are too tech ignorant to understand.)

Has anyone seen this in a major news outlet's reporting?
10 Nov 2005 ~ 3:59pm GHoosdum I thought Reuters was fairly major...?

I also heard a story on NPR on the way to work the other morning about the issue. In it, the Sony exec says "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" When I heard that comment I just about crashed my wife's car in surprise.

Here's a link to the audio:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4989260
10 Nov 2005 ~ 8:37pm Leonardo

I thought Reuters was fairly major...?

Indeed they are. Guess I blew through the opening post too fast.
10 Nov 2005 ~ 11:11pm airbornflght hmm. sony went and did it this time. i think there is going to most likely be some court action because of this. if the trojan cause a big outbreak you better believe that someone will sue.
11 Nov 2005 ~ 12:43am muddocktor Sony already has a few class action lawsuits filed on them over this rootkit business, so wait until some corporate machines get trojaned because one of their employees had unknowingly installed this rootkit to listen to a music cd and it snafu's their corporate network. I bet some more class action suits get filed on them over the next few weeks too.

Join me in boycotting anything manufactured or sold by Sony.
11 Nov 2005 ~ 12:54am Leonardo In reference to my previous thread about the boneheads in the mainstream media: slowly but surely, the media is picking up on this event now.

Sony. Good grief. That really is the height of corporate arrogance, isn't it! (and I'm not even a corporation basher)
11 Nov 2005 ~ 12:56am primesuspect Count me in, mudd. We can only vote with our wallets.
11 Nov 2005 ~ 9:00am GHoosdum I'm in!

I'm even going to get rid of the walkman I got in 1985!
11 Nov 2005 ~ 11:32am Garg Dangit, I was about to buy a new Sony receiver.

Oh well. I could probably find a better one for the same amount of money, anyway
11 Nov 2005 ~ 12:27pm Justin But... I want to play Final fantasy XII when it comes out. Decisions, decisions...
11 Nov 2005 ~ 2:53pm GHoosdum Sony finally decided to pull the software

"As a precautionary measure, Sony BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing XCP technology," it said in a statement.
12 Nov 2005 ~ 11:34pm airbornflght yeh i got that crap on my computer, and it completely messed everything up, plus it wouldnt let me rip anything. so i did the sensible thing. format and reinstall.

and hold shift while you put the cd in to interupt the autorun. then i was in ripping heaven. (im probably gonna get some kinda lawsuit for: evading copy protection measures)
13 Nov 2005 ~ 12:57am profdlp

primesuspect wrote:

Count me in, mudd. We can only vote with our wallets.

Another ex-customer here... :shakehead
13 Nov 2005 ~ 4:25am Shorty For an extremely technical but very interesting read on this.. read Mark from sysinternals blog (he's the guy who originally discovered it)

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

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/11/more-on-sony-dangerous-decloaking.html

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/11/sonys-rootkit-first-4-internet.html

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/11/sony-you-dont-reeeeaaaally-want-to_09.html
13 Nov 2005 ~ 1:04pm profdlp I just read all four of those articles (and most of the accompanying comments) and have a hard time believing this stuff. One thing that stood out in my mind most of all was that after the guy removed all the hidden crap, his cdrom drive disappeared. Keep in mind that we're talking about someone who really knows what he's doing, not just some poor schmuck who started deleting stuff willy-nilly.

I'm running his RootkitRevealer tool right now.
13 Nov 2005 ~ 4:47pm Omega65

primesuspect wrote:

Count me in, mudd. We can only vote with our wallets.

I've been in for years.....

SONY - The same features at TWICE the price! :thumbsdow :thumbsdow
13 Nov 2005 ~ 5:52pm profdlp Looks like MS has gotten the news fairly quickly this time. Let's hope the follow-through on their promise to fix things is equally prompt.
13 Nov 2005 ~ 6:31pm Leonardo Good to see Microsoft is wearing the white hat for this roundup.
15 Nov 2005 ~ 6:21pm profdlp Sony's "fix" has apparently made things even worse.