Researcher: Sony BMG "rootkit" still widespread

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Hundreds of thousands of networks across the globe, including many military and government networks, appear to still contain PCs with the controversial copy-protection software installed by music discs sold by media giant Sony BMG, a security researcher told attendees at the ShmooCon hacking conference this weekend.

Building on previous research that suggested some 570,000 networks had computers affected by the software, infrastructure security expert Dan Kaminsky used a different address used by the copy protection software to estimate that, a month later, 350,000 networks--many belonging to the military and government--contain computers affected by the software.

"It is unquestionable that Sony's code has gotten into military and government networks, and not necessarily just U.S. military and government networks," Kaminsky said in an interview after his presentation at ShmooCon. The researcher would not say how many networks belonged to government or military top-level domains.

The latest research results comes as Sony BMG is attempting to finish up this particular embarrassing chapter in the company's use of digital-rights management software. Earlier this month, a New York district court judge gave the nod to a settlement penned by Sony BMG and the attorneys for six class-action lawsuits in the state. More than 15 other lawsuits are pending against the media giant, according to court filings.
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http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11369


:rofl: