Bioshock rootkit rumor shot down

The recent release of the eagerly anticipated Bioshock game lead togamers getting another kind of shock. Bioshock is a hybrid first-personshooter/RPG from Irrational Games. A rumor had circulated that theBioshock game comes loaded with a rootkit. After investigation Symanteccan confirm that this is not true.

The rumor seems to have started after Microsoft’s RootkitRevealerfound a “SecuROM” registry setting that it found suspicious after theBioshock game had been installed. SecuROM just so happens to be ownedby Sony who after all had started the whole rootkit outrage with theirmusic CDs.

The secuROM installation creates a folder and a registry key with anull character which prevents users from accessing/deleting the keyfrom the registry. This is to assist with disc authentication andpiracy. It is however not a rootkit.