Old Pirated Movie App Brings Risk: Check Now

The Popcorn Time vulnerability poses a serious risk for users who installed this movie-watching application on their Mac computers years ago. Detailed investigations by security firm Eye Research reveal that some parts of the application continue to run in the background.

This software, called Time4Popcorn and an unofficial version of the original application, has a mechanism that checks for updates every time the computer is turned on. This mechanism has the right to make changes to the Mac with full authority, trusting every data it downloads.

Dangers Created by Abandoned Project

Because the app's developers abandoned the project a long time ago, the web addresses the software connects to to check for updates have expired. This may allow anyone who obtains these addresses to install malicious software on affected devices.

Eye Research states that it took control of one of these addresses and reveals the seriousness of the situation. Fortunately, the security firm states that so far they have not found any evidence that cybercriminals have infiltrated devices using this vulnerability.

According to estimates, between 250,000 and 350,000 Mac devices are affected by this security issue. Researchers had to follow a rather complex method to produce a solution for this software, whose developer no longer exists.

Using the update checker itself, the Eye Research team disabled this mechanism on more than a million Mac and Windows computers. Later, control of these addresses was transferred to the non-profit cyber security group Shadowserver Foundation.

Security Recommendations for Users

However, this applied fix does not completely eliminate other vulnerabilities in Time4Popcorn. It is also emphasized that some updated addresses are still beyond the control of researchers.

Therefore, if you still keep the relevant version of this software on your computer, the advice of experts is quite clear. For your safety, it is recommended that you completely remove the application from your computer.

Time4Popcorn is known as one of several different unofficial versions distributed under the name Popcorn Time. This makes it difficult for users to understand whether the copy installed on their computers is the risky version.

Since unofficial versions of the application are distributed under the original name, users may be confused. The report prepared by Eye Research clearly reveals the technical details and risks of this vulnerability.