And???

You've got a corporation that has clearly shown that it has less respect for its users than it does for other corporations, by illegally installing malware onto users' machines.

Two years later, you think they'll behave any differently? Why would they? They got their little fingers burned the last time, true. A human might have reconsidered his evil ways and given up on that course, or at least tried to avoid another public spanking. A corporation, though, has no shame, no conscience, and apparently a short memory. Perhaps, though, they got a competent programmer to create this rootkit - someone who has experience in creating malware.

But Brian...

You (sorry, u) are missing the point.

These directories are impossible to see, even if you are an administrator and using all of the forensic tools available to you. Your antivirus software cannot even detect that they are there. So if a virus or keylogger could take advantage of a flaw in the Sony software to install itself into the hidden directory, it cannot be detected. You would be blissfully unaware that something was recording all your keystrokes and sending them home to daddy when you log on to internet banking or use amazon or whatever.

As has been said, a better option would be encryption and access protection. It's easy enough to do and malware exploiting it would then be visible and the AV scanners can deal with it.

Tighter Security

Sony would be a more rational company if it were split in two. Sony Hardware/SW is overprotective of Sony Media, with disasterous results.

For better security, get two fingerprint readers and a voice recognition system...

Hey Sony... ooVo "Ptbbbbbbtttt!"