The revelation 5 years ago that Sony BMG was planting a secret rootkit onto its music customers' Windows PCs in the name of anti-piracy is seen now as one of the all-time significant events in IT security history.. "Sony rootkit was one of the seminal moments in malware history," says Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Helsinki, Finland-based security company F-Secure. "Not only did it bring rootkits into public knowledge, it also gave a good lesson to media companies on how not to do their DRM [digital rights management] solutions." The link for this article located at Network World is no longer available. . The Sony BMG rootkit scandal in 2005 spotlighted flaws in DRM and IT security, revealing dangers of invasive software and prompting consumer activism and legal reforms. Sony BMG Rootkit, Malware History, DRM Failures. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.