5 ms·
I usually feel bad about the victims of ransomware, but in this case I feel a little less bad, since in the past Sony has betrayed trust by attempting to instal
by lagniappe 3y ago
I usually feel bad about the victims of ransomware, but in this case I feel a little less bad, since in the past Sony has betrayed trust by attempting to install their own rootkits on unsuspecting user's hardware. When they got called out, they made a removal tool that collected more data from the users who used it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...
- blatherard 3y agoNot to excuse it, but that was 18 years ago. Anything more recent?
- bravetraveler 3y agoInteresting, around the same time I recall some service with 'free' CDs from them. I forget the specifics on the service, but they tricked teenager me. I didn't realize that they intended to charge some fees Anyway, funny they were basically giving these away and putting egregious 'DRM' all at the same time.
- boomboomsubban 3y agoI'm assuming you're talking about those mail order CD things that promised ~10 CD's for a penny, plus shipping and handling. This also confirmed your subscription to a service which sold you two CDs per month at full retail price plus shipping for at least a year unless you explicitly refused each one. I don't think you even got to choose which CDs you got. Malware wasn't the point. They sent off unsold stocks of old CDs, made you "buy" new releases which would count for Billboard and the such, and charged you a ton for doing it.
- bravetraveler 3y agoThat sounds about right - I was a foolish kid :P Don't give this too much stock, playful speculation/pointing of irony on what's already an aside. There was some selection for what was sent. Not just some random collection of whatever... at least entirely; I'm not sure. Maybe only the original set - doesn't matter anyway.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- aarmenaa 3y agoSony's network has been compromised something like a half dozen times over the last decade or so. They can't seem to secure their systems. Bad behavior aside, it's probably not a good idea to give them any sensitive information.
- rapsey 3y agoWorking in the security field it is my impression that Japan and really most asian countries in general, IT security is taken very lightly. Case in point: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/china-japan-hack-pentagon/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/...
- xwolfi 3y agoHappening this month here in Hong Kong: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/208406/Hacking-of-Cyberport-sparks-discussions-of-law-on-cyber-security https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/20840...
- gascoigne 3y agoWhat?!? You're telling me the weekly full disk virus scan that ruins 3 hours of work, the fortnightly security announcements from the poor schmuck chosen to be the security representative, and sending the password for a file in a separate email than the file.. all these don't really do much? the horror
- mnw21cam 3y ago> sending the password for a file in a separate email than the file Ok, I never got this one. What exactly is that supposed to achieve?
- bartekrutkowski 3y agoNot in "another email", but can make some sense if done via "alternative communication channel". The idea is that the attacker obtaining some access to one device (let's say computer with email account containing the message with said file) doesn't have the full set of data required to open the file given password was sent with a different channel (say, text message via phone). Not the Final Word in security, but rather yet another layer of it.
- qingcharles 3y agoWhat's funny is that I was working in the online music biz at the time and Sony would keep sending us all these CDs with more and more elaborately fucked-up "copy protection" and ask us to RIP THEM so we could ingest them for online download systems. I had quite a few calls with their people about the insanity of these CDs at the time.
- I_Am_Nous 3y agoThis sounds perfect lol "Just rip our music from the CD what's the big deal?" said one part of the company while they were whipping another part of the company to make doing that difficult/impossible. Corporations are wild
- charcircuit 3y agoIt wasn't a rootkit. It was just a sloppily made DRM solution.
- eddythompson80 3y agoDelivered through a rootkit mechanism. DRM solutions are always invasive by necessity, but this was on a whole other level.
- charcircuit 3y agoSince when was an installer a "rootkit mechanism"? It was just a part of the software you installed for playing the CDs. Plenty of legitimate software used installers.
- eddythompson80 3y agoIt installed itself whether or not you agreed to it, hid the installation from the system, and interfered with CD copying without announcing itself, and had no uninstall. What’s a rootkit again?
- charcircuit 3y agoThe XCP software did not install if you didn't agree to the EULA. It interfered with CD copying to prevent unauthorized copies. There was no uninstall because people shouldn't be able to just uninstall it and gain the ability to make unauthorized copies. >What’s a rootkit again? Malware that attains root and maintain it as long as possible.
- eddythompson80 3y agoSo a rootkit then.
- prmoustache 3y ago"because people shouldn't be able to just uninstall it " hum " maintain it as long as possible."
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- d3vmax 3y agoIt was the end of Digg, when Digg tried to comply with Sony's request to take down some leaked Sony key. All Digg users were commenting/posting the keys everywhere. Many migrated to Reddit thereafter. About 17 years ago, I think.
- wredue 3y agoThe end of digg was letting advertisers have their way with the front page and consolidating around a couple power users, who were also able to be paid to push whatever advertisers wanted to be pushed. That whole digg v4 fiasco.
- lagniappe 3y agono, the digg code was for DVD during the HD-DVD era.