Four Sony Stinx Trojans Discovered

A total of four variants of the Stinx Trojan have been discovered exploiting the Sony BMG rootkit. The rootkit is found on music CDs published by Sony BMG and is used to hide Sony music's Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. The Sony rootkit contains a design flaw that allows any specially named file to be enveloped by the rootkit, thereby masking its presence on the system.

The Stinx family of Trojans create IRC backdoors on impacted systems, download other malware, and disable the Windows XP firewall. Unlike the first Sony rootkit Trojan, the newer three appear to be fully functioning, effectively dispelling the notion the Trojan might have been designed as a proof of concept only.

The President of Sony BMG's Global Digital Business, Thomas Hesse, defended Sony's installation of a rootkit, declaring essentially that ignorance is bliss. According to Hesse, "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"

Also see:

• Sony Rootkit Strikes Sour Note
• Sony President: Why Should They Care?
• CDs Suspected of Installing the Sony Rootkit
• First Sony Rootkit Trojan Discovered