Another Sony Device with On-Board Rootkit
Today's Holy Crap, What Were They Thinking award goes to Sony, who after running their own name through the dirt two years ago for including Rootkit-type technology on CD's as a DRM mechanism, have been caught red-handed for the second time. Another Rootkit? Come on Sony, haven't you learned you lesson yet?
According to Ryan Naraine's column on ZDnet...
The Sony MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reader software that comes with the USB stick installs a driver that is hiding a directory under “c:\windows\”. So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place.
You really do want to read this whole article...
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=475&tag=nl.e539
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