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TRUSTe to Police Adware
Click Z Network
by Kevin Newcomb
November 16, 2005

Several industry heavyweights have teamed up to back an initiative meant to help advertisers determine which adware programs are worthy of receiving their ad dollars.

The idea is to take a "carrot and stick" approach, Hughes said. The carrot for adware providers is the incentive to boost their reputation by involving themselves in the program. The stick is the loss of business that would likely result by not meeting the certification standards, which would ideally lead to more advertisers refusing to do business with them.

$500,000 Worth Of Computers Stolen From Miami Business
Local 10 (FL)
November 11, 2005

MIAMI -- More than a month has passed since $500,000 worth of computers was stolen from a Miami business, and police are still looking for the individuals responsible for the heist.

Police said two men broke into Prosys Information Systems Oct. 8 and, along with two others, made off with computer laptops and desktops during a four-hour robbery. Surveillance video shows two men wearing ski masks driving up to the front of Prosys in a Lincoln Navigator trying to break in. After attempts to open the hurricane shutters failed, video shows one of the men smashing the window and entering the code to deactivate the alarm.

At Sony, The Customer Is Captive
Information Week (NY)
November 11, 2005

If the customer is king, Sony has turned to treason. On Halloween, news broke that Sony BMG was using copy-protected CDs to sneak digital rights management software onto customers' PCs in order to restrict how customers can use lawfully purchased content.

The Sony DRM software, XCP, made by a company called First 4 Internet Ltd, installs as a rootkit to conceal its presence and inhibit its removal. Rootkits are generally considered to be spyware. Sony has even provided a Mac version through a company called SunnComm.

Tsunami 'hacker' keeps security job
CNet News
by Graeme Wearden and Dan Ilett
November 11, 2005

When Daniel Cuthbert was convicted last month of gaining unauthorized access to a tsunami fund-raising Web site, many people--including the U.K. trial judge--suspected his career in the IT industry was over. These suspicions were unfounded, though. Cu

Martin O'Neal, director at Corsaire, confirmed Friday that Cuthbert had actually joined the company before his trial. O'Neal, though, isn't worried that one of his employees is a high-profile breaker of the Computer Misuse Act (CMA). "The reason being, we've known Daniel for a long time. He was well known in the security industry, even before the case. His integrity has never been called into question," O'Neal told ZDNet UK on Friday. Cuthbert was found guilty under the Computer Misuse Act of gaining unauthorized access to an appeal site for victims of the Asian tsunami in December 2004. Cuthbert said in court that he had made a donation and then became concerned that he'd fallen victim to a phishing scam. To check, he added "../../../" to the URL in an attempt to access the site's higher directories--an action that triggered an alarm.

Breplibot Stinx
f-secure.com
by F-Secure
November 11, 2005

There are variants of Breplibot (aka Stinx aka Ryknos) trying to hide under the cloak provided by the Sony DRM software. However, none of the variants we have so far analyzed are successful in installing on a machine that has an unpatched Sony DRM running

We wouldn't like to say "we told you so" but unfortunately this is one of those times you just have to do it. We have just analyzed the first malware (Breplibot.b) that is trying to hide on machines that have Sony DRM software installed. Luckily, the bot has a design flaw. If the Sony DRM rootkit is active (hiding) in the system during infection, the bot will not run at all. Moreover, the bot cannot survive a reboot because of a programming error. In any case, this is a very good example of why software should not use rootkit hiding techniques.

Sony to stop making "rootkit" CDs
securityfocus.com
by SecurityFocus
November 11, 2005

Beleaguered Sony BMG will temporarily suspend the manufacture of CDs protected with technology from First 4 Internet and re-examine its copy-protection strategy, the media giant said on Friday.

The company has been widely criticized by consumers, security experts and digital-rights advocates for the surreptitious copy-protection programs that Sony BMG CDs install on consumers' computers. Digital-rights advocates and consumer attorneys are preparing nearly a half dozen legal actions against the music giant. While the company is re-evaluating its inclusion of the Extended Copy Protection (XCP) technology produced by U.K.-based First 4 Internet, the company stood by its right to protect its music.

Hackers use Sony DRM software to hide Trojan
fergdawg.blogspot.com
by Paul Ferguson
November 10, 2005

A computer security firm said on Thursday it had discovered the first virus that uses music publisher Sony BMG's controversial CD copy-protection software to hide on PCs and wreak havoc.

When recipients click on an attachment, they install malware, which may tear down the firewall and gives hackers access to a PC. The malware hides by using Sony software that is also hidden -- the software would have been installed on a computer when consumers played Sony's copy-protected music CDs.

Sophos develops Sony DRM removal tool
fergdawg.blogspot.com
by Paul Ferguson
November 10, 2005

UK security firm Sophos plans to release a tool which will detect the existence of Sony's DRM copy-protection rootkit on Windows computers, disable it, and prevent it from re-installing.

The move follows the discovery of the first malware (a Trojan called Breplibot) that takes advantage of Sony-BMG's use of rootkit technology in DRM software bundled with its music CDs to mask its presence on infected systems.

California Sues Sony over DRM Rootkit
fergdawg.blogspot.com
by Paul Ferguson
November 10, 2005

Record company Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been targeted in a class-action lawsuit in California by consumers claiming their computers have been harmed by anti-piracy software on some Sony BMG CDs.

The claim states that Sony BMG's failed to disclose the true nature of the digital rights management system it uses on its CDs and thousands of computer users have unknowingly infected their computers, according to court documents.

EFF: Want to particpate in Sony lawsuit?
fergdawg.blogspot.com
by Paul Ferguson
November 10, 2005

If you satisfy the following criteria, we would like to hear from you:* You have a Windows computer; * First 4 Internet's "xcp" copy protection has been installed on your computer from a Sony CD (for more details, see our blog post referenced above or

We have not made any final decisions about filing any legal action, but we would like to hear from music fans who have been harmed by the Sony-BMG "rootkit" copy protection technology.

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