Security News > 2021 > December > Revealed: Remember the Sony rootkit rumpus? It was almost oh so much worse

Retired Microsoft engineer, Dave Plummer, offered a blast from the past last week with a look back at the infamous Sony Windows "Rootkit" scandal.

In his latest video, Tempest obsessive and author Plummer confessed to having once been the owner of Windows components such as Calculator and CD Autorun.

Or perhaps install a rootkit in a misguided attempt to fight off perceived threats from pirates.... A self-confessed Sony fanboy, Plummer recounted the tale.

As Plummer pointed out, the discovery of the Sony DRM issue occurred in 2005, and the man had long left Microsoft by then.

Alas, Microsoft hadn't reckoned with the "Good guys" - aka Sony - shipping CDs with a hybrid ISO and Red Book format.

The delightfully naive "CD-ROM = OK" assumption turned out, as Plummer explained, Sony exploited and Russinovich discovered, to have flaws of its own.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/12/10/autorunning_away/