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General discussion

Sony ROOTKIT now for Mac.

Nov 11, 2005 11:31AM PST
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=13117&Page=1&pagePos=4

" Sony BMG's 'rootkit' copy protection technology may affect Macs - and the software can also be exploited by malicious hackers, reports claim.

MacInTouch reports claims by a reader who recently purchased a Sony BMG CD. The reader found that the CD installs a Mac application, "Start.app" which itself installs two files: PhoenixNub1.kext and PhoenixNub12.kext."

At first we thought the Mac was not affected, but it seems Sony didn't stop with Windows.

Check those CDs before you feed them to your Mac (or PC).

Bob

Discussion is locked

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huh?
Nov 11, 2005 7:42PM PST

I have been following this story since it broke. I get the vast majority of my music from bmg because my collection was lost in a fire. (Yourmusic.com is $6.41 per CD for me and I am replacing over 2000 CDs.)

I don't know what it means to me though. I have used a Mac for 20 years now because it means I can use it, not fix it as required for windows. What does this Sony/BMG rootkit do to my Mac?

Would you explain this in nontechnical terms please?

Thanks

Leighsah

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Nontech terms. "It's a bad thing."
Nov 11, 2005 10:56PM PST

That's the shortest way I can write this. Since you have been following the news, the new news is that reports are surfacing Sony may have a Mac version of the rootkit.

Don't you miss the days when the Japan manager would apologize and then quit?

Sony's unapologetic stance is fueling this one.

Bob

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IF this is true
Nov 11, 2005 11:06PM PST

then SONY have been lying through their teeth during this whole thing. Their official response to questions about the Mac side was that there was nothing on the CD that affected the Mac. Hard to see what benefit they would gain from that as iTunes ripped the CD and there was no limit on the copies you could make.

Just one more reason to NOT by SONY/BMG CD's. I note that SONY/BMG has halted production of the CD's with this nasty stuff on them.

P

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I'm waiting for the other shoe(s) to drop.
Nov 11, 2005 11:19PM PST

Not only this one, but did Sony have plans or did they already put out rootkits on their PCs, laptops, DVDs and more?

I have seen this behaviour before and once they think they have such a control tool, it usually goes into the entire corporate product line.

Bob

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optimistic to say sony has stopped
Nov 12, 2005 1:26AM PST

when it sounds like they lied about the Mac end to begin with Pete.

Please forgive my cynical nature but it seems like Sony is nothing more than another hacker writing trojans except they can afford the best lawyers in the world. People go to jail for this don't they ? I'm not a big believer in governments ability to solve commercial trade problems but this seems to be a situation where the Feds might be the only folks big enuf to cover our butts on this one !

grim