Sony hacks PCs, again

Posted on 3 Sep 2007 at 11:52

Sony has used a technology in one of its products that relies on similar techniques to those employed by hackers. The Sony MicroVault USM-F is a flash drive that includes a biometric protection device, namely a fingerprint recognition scanner. According to security firm F-Secure, the software that comes with the drive creates a hidden folder using 'rootkit techniques'.

Rootkits are usually malicious programs that lie hidden on a PC, disguising their presence by accessing the operating system in an unusual way. While F-Secure suspects that Sony's rootkit-like software is hiding fingerprint authentication, which seems like a sensible reason to hide data, the company also notes that the system can be abused by bad guys: "This new rootkit... can be used by any malware author to hide any folder." McAfee has also analysed the software and demonstrated how it can be used to cause problems on a system.

This is not the first time that Sony has been found to use data protection techniques that fly close to the unethical. In November 2005 F-Secure discovered that some music CDs from the company automatically installed copy protection software on Windows PCs. This software hid itself and unintentionally created a security hole that virus writers attempted to use to hide their own programs.

Author: Shopper Staff

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