Hidden-code flaw in Windows renews worries over stealthy malware

I mentioned the over-length registry key as a way of hiding malicious code from various system protection utilities on Sunday. The link above is to a story in The Register which contains a bit more information, along with links and pointers to more information.

This is a serious problem, though Microsoft does not see it as an operating system vulnerability (and they may well be correct in this). It can and does mean such things as keystroke loggers are invisible to some security and system health monitoring software. The Internet Storm Center has a partial list of such software. Undoubtedly patches will be issued and at least most of the affected programs updated to handle this. Until that happy day, this story warrants your following it and taking whatever steps are necessary if you are depending on the affected applications for your security.

Jack