Sony's copy protection phoned home, hid files from the OSOperating system — software that manages hardware and provides services to applications., and was trivially exploited by other malwareMalicious software — viruses, worms, trojans, and ransomware designed to harm systems or steal data.. The scandal united security researchers and civil-liberties advocates against DRMDigital rights management — technology restricting how users copy or play media and software. that compromised user machines — leading to recalls, lawsuits, and lasting skepticism of anti-piracy software shipping with entertainment products.

The Sony rootkit proved anti-piracy DRMDigital rights management — technology restricting how users copy or play media and software. could be worse than the piracy it fought.

It made kernelThe core of an operating system that manages hardware, memory, and processes — everything else depends on it.-level copy protection politically toxic for a decade.