If you need to play a video and you don’t want a headache, everyone knows it’s best to use VLC. This p layer is able to “swallow” everything, regardless of details such as codecs or video formats.
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It’s no surprise that VLC is one of the first programs we install on our computers and smartphones; the downside is that it also makes them a very juicy target for a potential attacker.
Hackers use VLC to break into your computer
As Trend Micro researchers discovered, a recent campaign by malware operators focused on using VLC to break into their victims’ computers. However, before uninstalling the program, you should keep in mind that the official application is completely safe; In fact, VLC is open source, so it’s hard for unwanted modification to happen.
Hackers’ tactics were much smarter. Instead of trying to hack VLC’s servers to push a modified version, they took advantage of Google, using a technique called “SEO poisoning”.
This technique takes advantage of the fact that Google positions results based on factors such as the number of pages that link to ours. Therefore, the attackers had a large number of fake web pages linked to a fake VLC page with a modified version of the program; They did this by hacking real pages with JavaScript that injected fake links.
Victims find the fake page when they search and download the program, which “opens the door” for attackers allowing remote access.
This is normally not possible, because Google is not stupid and knows what the official VLC page is, and shows it every time we search for the name of the program. The key to the attack is that those responsible had a very specific target: the health service computers in Australia; so they used very domain and profession specific keywords, so the fake page showed up even if non-VLC related terms were searched.
So, if you have downloaded VLC from the official page or from the Play Store, you have nothing to worry aboutbut it is always good to remember that you must pay special attention to the origin of the applications that we install on our system.
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