...a couple of interesting excerpts:
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An "open-source environment" for development of stealth code among hackers is driving this rapid growth, McAfee said. Collaborative Web sites and blogs contain hundreds of lines of rootkit code for recompiling and enhancing the technology, along with rootkit binary executables, McAfee said.
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McAfee noted an increase in commercial software using stealth techniques to conceal code. Companies that have turned to the use of such technology include record label Sony BMG, which used it to hide copy protection code, and Symantec, which later stepped back from using it in its Norton SystemWorks PC-tuning application. The report did not label such stealth technology as rootkits, a word it said should be used in relation to malicious software.

http://news.com.com/Rootkit+numbers+...3-6061878.html