Rootkits and Bootkits

5OPERATING SYSTEM BOOT PROCESS ESSENTIALS

This chapter introduces you to the most important bootkit-related aspects of the Microsoft Windows boot process. Because the goal of the bootkit is to hide on a target system at a very low level, it needs to tamper with the OS boot components. So, before we can dive into how bootkits are built and how they behave, you’ll need to understand how the boot process works.

NOTE

The information in this chapter applies to Microsoft Windows Vista and later versions; the boot process for earlier versions of Windows differs, as explained in “The bootmgr Module and Boot Configuration Data” on page 64.

The boot process ...