Streaming with subtitles can be unsafe!
Many people watch their favourite movies and series by streaming this footage. You don’t have to download anything when streaming movies and series, but you can start watching immediately without downloading. Handy, but not always safe. If you use subtitles during streaming, you run the risk of being hacked, as it has been found that streaming with subtitles can be unsafe.
Streaming with subtitles: susceptible to hacking
Not everyone adds subtitles when watching a movie or series, but many people do opt for this. If you watch a film or series with Dutch subtitles, you can often follow the story a bit better.
Adding subtitles works well and is nice and easy, but apparently, it’s not always safe. Security researchers from the Check Point company have found a way to hacking through the files that provide subtitles for various kinds of videos. Think of films, but also well-known series. This means that if you stream videos with subtitles, you are more at risk of being hacked.
Various video players are vulnerable
Check Point researchers found that several video players are susceptible to the hacking problem. It concerns video players such as Kodi en Popcorn Time, but also the well-known video player VLC.
A video made by the researchers themselves shows how a file with an art extension is loaded onto a computer. This file is used to subtitle a movie while streaming. What you do not see when you download the subtitles of a film is that a code is being executed unnoticed. This code gives a hacker complete control over your computer.
Check Point: video players are too flexible
According to Check Point, the source of the vulnerability during streaming lies with the various video players. They want to support so many different subtitle formats that they attach less importance to the security of the different subtitle formats. This simply means that they are less critical and also support less secure subtitle formats. Incidentally, VLC has now made four separate updates that have solved the problem. Kodi and Popcorn Time are still working on updates to fix this new hacking problem.
Exact details about the vulnerability of the vulnerability have not been disclosed, but according to Check Point, hundreds of millions of video player users may be vulnerable to the vulnerability, even after the updates of VLC, for example. It is therefore important to be critical when streaming videos and series with subtitles.
Streaming with subtitles unsafe: Protect yourself with a VPN
Even with the updates of VLC and the expected updates of Kodi and Popcorn Time, you are not completely safe when streaming movies and series with subtitles. To really protect yourself against hacking, we recommend that you take matters into your own hands. You do this by investing in a VPN or a Virtual Private Network (What is a VPN?).
A Virtual Private Network is a secure internet connection that only you use. If you use this internet connection, hackers cannot break into your system. In addition, a Virtual Private Network can also protect your data. This means that you can use the internet completely anonymously, without having to make any effort. If you use VLC, Kodi, Popcorn Time or another vulnerable video player with a Virtual Private Network, then you don’t have to worry about being hacked! This means that you can save yourself a lot of trouble simply by getting a Virtual Private Network.
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