You may have heard the term “rootkit” and that they are dangerous to your computer’s health…and what’s worse, that no antivirus or antispyware software can detect them! You may have even heard that Sony was putting rootkits onto their CD’s so that when you put them into your computer a rootkit is installed. So what is a rootkit?

The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.

Obviously, this is bad. However, just as quickly as a new threat is created, the companies whose bottom line depends on protecting your computers come up with a way to secure your machines.

The next generation of antivirus and antispyware software from all the major venders (i.e. McAfee, Symantec, Computer Associates, etc.) will have routines that catch and remove rootkits. For now, there are several freeware applications out there who’s sole function is detecting and removing rootkits, including perhaps the most popular one RootkitRevealer.

As with most malware-related news, it’s more hype than anything. Rootkits can be a serious problem, but as long as your computers have anitvirus and antispyware protection that is regularly updated you will prevent 99% of the problems that plague others.