[LINK] Sony's Rootkit

[Jan Whitaker]

At 11:07 PM 3/11/2005, Howard Lowndes wrote:
>>>I also wonder what happens if you play the CD on a Windows XP PC from a 
>>>user account that does not have administrative priveleges. Can the CD 
>>>still install a rootkit from such an account? If so Windows XP is even 
>>>worse than I thought...
>>
>>According to Sony's FAQ, you can't play the CD unless you are running
>>with Administrator rights.
>
>Which rather defeats the core security of Windows XP.  "I have to log in 
>as administrator to play my CD, so I might as well stay logged in as 
>administrator to do my email and web browsing - Oh look, someone has sent 
>me a greetings card..."

I've forwarded the article BRD posted to the privacy discussion list as 
well. This sort of intrusion is dangerous. Is there any indication that the 
Sony software reports your activities back to them? Has anyone looked?

Jan



JLWhitaker Associates
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at melbpc.org.au  --  http://member.melbpc.org.au/~jwhit/whitentr.htm

'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is 
no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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