Microsoft will remove part of Sony rootkit
Jason Garms, part of Microsoft’s AntiMalware operation, has signalled a change in the company’s policy toward Sony’s so-called “rootkit” copy protection tools. “I’ve been getting a lot of questions in the last week about Microsoft’s position on the Sony DRM and rootkit discussions, so I thought I’d share a little info on what we’re doing here. We are concerned about any malware and its impact on our customers’ machines. Rootkits have a clearly negative impact on not only the security, but also the reliability and performance of their systems.”
Microsoft will in future update its security system to detect and remove part of the copy protection automatically installed on computers when some music CDs are played.
News.com reports :
The Sony BMG software installs itself deeply inside a hard drive when a CD is played on a PC. The technology uses rootkit techniques to hide itself. Experts blasted the cloaking mechanism, saying it could be abused by virus writers. The first remote-control Trojan horses that take advantage of the veil provided by Sony BMG have surfaced. To protect Windows users, Microsoft plans to update Windows AntiSpyware and the Malicious Software Removal Tool as well as the online scanner on Windows Live Safety Center to detect and remove the Sony BMG software, the software maker said in its blog.
[Sources: Technet.com and News.com]
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POSTED IN: Corporate News, Windows OS's
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