WMP to be patched.

[suspiciousBob]

Follow up to some doom9 news posted a few days ago..

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1752247,00.asp

Microsoft will patch its Windows Media Player after all.

One week after saying it had no plans to change the way WMP (Windows Media Player) handles the download of DRM licenses, Microsoft now says it will release an update in the next 30 days to help thwart the threat of spyware infection.

The about-face comes amid reports that malicious hackers are rigging .wmv files and using the anti-piracy mechanism to infect computers with spyware, adware, dialers and computer viruses.

"While this issue is not the result of any exploit of Windows Media DRM, we do recognize it may cause problems for some of our customers," the company said in a statement.

[Mug Funky]

hehe... it's better than what i expected - which was for MS to sit there and tell us there wasn't a security risk with ASF's DRM.

[stephanV]

its not a risk of the DRM as such... you can just add scripts to asf files that pop-up all kinds of windows at certain points during the video. nothing really new... little bit overhyped if you ask me.

[Joe Fenton]

Considering a new batch of exploits just came out taking advantage of this "feature", I wouldn't say it's over-hyped. It's the only reason MS agreed to "fix" it.

[stephanV]

It is overhyped since it is seen by many people as a risk in the DRM itself (see Mug Funky's post), which is just not true. Even if there was never anything like DRM, asf files would still be able to do this.

[Neo Neko]

But the mechanism to do this is there because of DRM. If it were not for DRM this would not be possible or would be easily disableable. But since it is part of the DRM it canot be disabled if you want to be able to play DRM content. So stephan it is in fact a risk of the DRM itself. ;)