SCI/TECH: 'Bots' for Sony CD Software Spotted Online

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A first wave of malicious software written to piggyback on Sony BMG Music Entertainment CD copy protection tools has been spotted online, computer security companies said Thursday.

Sony's software, installed when playing one of the record label's recent copy-protected CDs in a computer, hides itself on hard drives using a powerful programming tool called a "rootkit." But the tool leaves the door open behind it, allowing other software--including viruses--to be deeply hidden behind the rootkit cloak.

The first version of a Trojan horse spotted early Thursday, which aims to give an attacker complete remote control over an infected computer, didn't work well. But over the course of the day, several others emerged that apparently fixed early flaws.

"This is no longer a theoretical vulnerability, it is a real vulnerability," said Sam Curry, vice president of Computer Associates' eTrust Security Management division. "This is no longer about digital rights management or content protection, this is about people having their PCs taken over."

Sony's use of the rootkit software has sparked a firestorm of criticism online and off over the company's techniques, highlighting concerns that remain over record labels' increasingly ambitious attempts to control the ways consumers can use purchased music.




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Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s troubles over anti-piracy technology on music CDs deepened Monday as Texas’ attorney general and a California-based digital rights group said they were suing the music company under new state anti-spyware laws.

The Texas lawsuit said the so-called XCP technology that Sony BMG had quietly included on more than 50 CD titles leaves computers vulnerable to hackers. Sony BMG had added the technology to restrict to three the number of times a single disc could be copied, but agreed to recall the discs last week after a storm of criticism.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Sony BMG needs to further publicize the recall and compensate consumers for costs associated with removing the software, an onerous process. It was filing a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles.

When XCP-enabled discs are loaded into a computer — a necessary step for transferring music to Apple Computer Inc.’s iPods and other portable music players — the CD installs a program that restricts copying and makes it extremely inconvenient to transfer songs into the format used by iPods. Critics say consumers aren’t adequately told what the program actually does.



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