A computer security expert believes that ‘hundreds of thousands’ of PCs still contain the rootkit software installed by copy-protected Sony BMG CDs.
Despite the widespread publicity of the security vulnerability and the release of tools to remove the offending rootkit, Dan Kaminsky estimates that around 350,000 PCs are still infected, many of them containing highly sensitive data.
‘It is unquestionable that Sony BMG’s code has gotten into military and government networks, and not necessarily just US military and government networks,’ Kaminsky told SecurityFocus.
Kaminsky’s also found that despite Sony BMG’s stringent anti-copying efforts the discs were widely pirated. Although the CDs were only released in the US, evidence of rootkit infections was found in 135 countries.
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