If rootkits are outlawed, only outlaws will have rootkits

Sunday, February 19. 2006

If rootkits are outlawed, only outlaws will have rootkits

ZD Net UK is running a story titled America 'must consider banning rootkits'.

Something immediately comes to mind:

The operating system and/or virus scanner should not allow anything to install a rootkit.

While I do not condone what Sony did, I can't help but think why nobody seems to be asking why Windows allows the simple act of inserting a CD to install something this malicious.

I am aware that Linux systems are not perfect, and it may be possible to trick the user into allowing a rootkit to be installed as root. I await the day we have enough SELinux policy in place that even if root runs such a malicious program, it will have no ill effect.

I'm not familiar with any Mandatory Access Control (MAC) being done in the windows or Macintosh world. If someone knows of this work being done, please let me know.

Posted by Josh Bressers in Security at 17:36 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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