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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Check Point researchers revealed a new attack vector threatening millions of users of popular media players, including VLC, Kodi (XBMC), Popcorn Time and Stremio. By crafting malicious subtitle files for films and TV programmes, which are then downloaded by viewers, attackers can potentially take complete control of any device running the vulnerable platforms.
"The supply chain for subtitles is complex, with over 25 different subtitle formats in use, all with unique features and capabilities. This fragmented ecosystem, along with limited security, means there are multiple vulnerabilities that could be exploited, making it a hugely attractive target for attackers," said Omri Herscovici, vulnerability research team leader at Check Point.
The subtitles for films or TV shows are created by a wide range of subtitle writers, and uploaded to shared online repositories, such as OpenSubtitles.org, where they are indexed and ranked. Researchers also demonstrated that by manipulating the repositories' ranking algorithm, malicious subtitles can be automatically downloaded by the media player, allowing a hacker to take complete control over the entire subtitle supply chain without user interaction.
Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2017/05/23/subtitle-hack/
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:23PM (21 children)
It's all such horrific nonsense.
Do yourself a favor, and cut computing out of your life as much as possible. It's just trash, because humans are trash.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:32PM (6 children)
I'm much happier since I stopped talking to people.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:36PM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Wednesday May 24 2017, @12:00AM (3 children)
He never said that. Just "Bite my shiny metal ass!". And how did you get that cool ASCII art past the lameness filter?
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:37AM
It's a question that almost answers itself: The lameness filter could obviously tell that his cool ASCII art wasn't lame.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:18PM
He did, sort of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qBlPa-9v_M [youtube.com]
And it's called ecode tags.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:58PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qBlPa-9v_M [youtube.com]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:37PM
Is it any wonder that the religions of the world tend to involve at some higher level the lone, cloistered monk?
(Score: 2) by julian on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:36PM (5 children)
I've almost finished my breadboard computer, which can neither be hacked nor perform practically useful work!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:39PM
That's how the overlords keep the little people too busy to question the present order of things.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:12PM (1 child)
You think it cannot be hacked? Stand by while I'm fetching my axe … ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:02PM
I see you've played breadboard-axey before!
(Score: 1) by Maskawanian on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:11PM (1 child)
I'm enjoying watching it. Do you plan on connecting it up to your solar system in any way?
Greetings from across the pond in Canada!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @12:40PM
Well, that escalated quickly.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:12PM (6 children)
Momentarily, assuming the truth of: because humans are trash
then why not just cut humans out of your miserable life? And keep computing?
Computers existed before the internet. In fact, you could even keep the internet and just not interact with humans. Sites like Wikipedia might suit your purposes. Sites like SN might not.
If a minstrel has musical instruments attached to his bicycle, can it be called a minstrel cycle?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:42PM (2 children)
However, the problem is that computers are made by humans, and the systems are so complex, that really they only function at all due to more work than any one person can handle. The result is that despite there being the initial sense that one can just take a decently functioning system and customize it for oneself over the course of the rest of one's own miserable life, the truth of the matter is that you actually always depend on a "community" that suffers from politics, shifting goals, and just general human mediocrity.
Even if you are successful at making your system work well for you, the hardware will eventually fail, and then you'll find there's nothing new out there with which to replace your broken system, except for systems that come broken by design, purposefully sealed off as magical and unhackable black boxes, choked under cryptographic DRM, and backdoored in the most intimate levels by the powers-that-be.
Enjoy.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @01:55AM (1 child)
Someone's been binge-watching The Stallman Hour...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @05:42AM
Someone's been busy ignoring reality...
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday May 23 2017, @11:09PM (2 children)
Logically, the third option is to keep humans and the internet, but ditch computers. Of course you'll have to learn how to code/decode TCP/IP by listening to a 300 baud modem and whistling in response...
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Wednesday May 24 2017, @12:31AM
given that there are some blind people who have managed to vocalize clicks and use the echo-location response to navigate the world around them; yeah, i bet there are some one-in-a-million who *can* listen/decode, encode/whistle...
.
those fuggin human beans, their wetware is amazing...
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:15AM
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149 [ietf.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:04PM
I... agree.
*curls up in the corner and begins slowly rocking while sobbing softly*