News Sony USB driver installs a rootkit?

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/08/28/sony_usb_driver_installs_a_rootkit/1

It looks like Sony is back with another rootkit after two years in the dark. This time the company's MicroVault USB thumb drives are the carriers.

 

Looks like they didn't learn from their mistake.
Personally I hate having things hid into my computer without my knowledge and/or consent.

 

So, it is not a rootkit, and only people using windows with an administrator account (99%) can have this USB drive to create folders into the window directory tree ..... right ?

 

if they can't make you buy there products so they can take over the world, then they screw up, whatever you have currently!

I bet if you put that in a 360 or a wii's usb port, the 3 red lights of death appear or something to that effect!

 

Just another thought.......I wonder if vista UAC thing would allow this to be installed

 

sorry im lost, what is a rootkit?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit

 

Cheers Tim, now I understand what the Bioshock thread is all about.

Sony Microvaults are expensive anyway. Much better usb pens from other manufactures. I got one for the wife thats all rubber, just incase she drops it, it just bounces and water resistant incase she sills crap on it.

 

If this is only a hidden directory where only fingerprints data are stored it is not a rootkit.ù
Still, the folder is invisible and may be used for viruses and all that. But this is still not a rootkit.

 

if at first you don't succeed, try try again...

 

loads of directorys are hidden like that in windows, just look at your hard drive using another OS and you can see loads of folders that arn't shown even if you have show hidden files etc set. I think the scariest one was the hidden IE history that is kept on windows 98 computers (not sure if it's still there on XP) but it was basicly a file recording all recently visted pages that was never cleared out and was hidden from the rest of the OS and was imposible to turn off.

 

It's not a rootkit per-se hence the questionmark, but as stated it uses rootkit style cloaking techniques, which is the problem.

 

thats what you have cd bootable linux distros for

 

yeah the caches and stuff in windows can be very hard to locate

their hidden somewhere in documents and settings, you often get viruses there, but my virus scanner picks em up

 

Regardless of what it is called or what it does we all know we can implicitly trush Sony's intentions with hidden processes running on our computers. =P

 

Wow, I almost bought one of these little sods! Good job I got a Scandisk instead.

I think its really underhand when companies do something like this, how dare they install something or peoples PC's without either their knowledge or consent.
I seem to recall that Sony were hit with a hefty fine for doing the same thing with some of their music cd's in the States earlier this year. does this mean they'll get hit again?

 

[sony]

IM IN UR SISTAM, HIDIN
[/sony]

 

And people wonder why there's all the anti Sony bashing going on. I think all their bad press is entirely justified considering things like this, especially since this isn't the first time either.

 

some people just never learn.