Abandoned Popcorn Time fork left millions of devices open to hijacking

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Popcorn Time, a once-popular app that offered an easy interface for streaming pirated movies and TV shows, has been unmaintained for years. Researchers at Eye Security found that an updater for a fork called Time4Popcorn is still running on many Windows, macOS, and Android devices worldwide. The updater contacts abandoned web domains over unencrypted HTTP and relies on an outdated, insecure version of Chrome. Because those domains are no longer controlled by the original developers, the researchers warned the devices could be taken over and conscripted into a botnet. The apps had to be disabled to prevent this outcome.

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