r00tkit Analysis: What Is A Rootkit

First, thank you for writing such an easy-to-understand and yet not dumbed-down explanation of rootkits.

Secondly, as the market value of 'zombie networks' increases, I wonder if we will see cracks in the actual source code of Windows. Not vulnerabilities that aren't exposed through testing, but actual hard-coded backdoors that will allow computers to be compromised. Another (scary) thought is the hardware rootkit, which could be embedded in a network card in order to pass information to and from the processor via hardware interrupts in real-time. It would take some creative coding, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility for a team of engineers who are dissatisfied with their current pay grade. Certainly all software and hardware has to pass through a review process, but can we trust middle management with the security of our computers? Peripherally, pulling something like a hard-coded backdoor over on an 'incompetent' middle manager would appeal to some of the people I've met in software development.

Even those two possibilities don't take into account all the network appliances that Mr Vea mentioned in 'Rise of the Machines'. Malicious code deployed on/from such a device would mean that you couldn't even trust your own subnet, which would prefigure a widespread re-evaluation of current network security thought.

matt - i guess they aren't keeping you busy enough in iraq.