The Root of All Evil? - Rootkits Revealed

Public awareness of rootkits has risen in recent years, but as with worms, viruses and other forms of malicious software (malware), the term rootkit is applied unselectively to a range of technologies and has attracted a number of not-very-compatible definitions. While several of these technologies and definitions are explored in this paper, intention is to clarify common usages, not to supply a single "Authoritative" definition. This paper aims to assess the realities of the rootkit threat, and to examine the state of the solutions available.