Subtitles can cause infection with virus (video)

Working in the field of computer security company Check Point from Israel published a report warning about new risks of Contracting a computer virus. The threat can now come from simple subtitles to use when watching movies.

After learning the processing technologies of most popular subtitle codecs VLC, Kodi, Popcorn Time and Stremio, experts came to the conclusion that all appliances that use video apps with subtitles at risk of infection. In addition to computers, smartphones and tablets, the threat extends even to smart TVs.

Currently used by more than two dozen different formats, the processing of which by using the media player is not perfect and carries with it the threat of infection by virus. The introduction of the hacker instead of subtitles infected file will open player malware and the defeat of the user device a computer virus.

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In addition, most casual users get the subtitles with the special sites considered to be quite safe. For example, on the resource Opensubttiles.org estimation of subtitles based on user ratings and can be wound for artificial breeding in the top places on the website.

In the report Check Point noted that taking control of the user device, the attackers are able to cause considerable damage to their owners. Hackers can steal financial data, to block the gadget or to extort the owners of the means to unlock the data. On the identified vulnerabilities, the experts have already informed interested persons that have begun to release updates with fixes. In light of the news, it is recommended to install the latest version of your preferred media player.

Source: zdnet.com