"Sony's DRM copy protection has opened up a vulnerability which hackers and virus writers are now exploiting," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, in a statement Thursday. "We wouldn't be surprised if more malware authors try and take advantage of this."
The Trojan opens a backdoor on the compromised PC, and takes commands from its controller to, for instance, install additional files or delete data.
Analysts at Gartner also stepped into the controversy by issuing a warning to clients of a consumer backlash against such practices.
"The use of spyware techniques, however benign in purpose, constitutes bad business practice and should be discouraged. Any attempt to sneak software onto a customer's computer or gather any information without consent is unacceptable," said Ray Heiser.