Subj : Time to Uninstall Quicktime for Windows
To   : All
From : MATT MUNSON
Date : Thu Apr 14 2016 11:39 pm



Apple stops patching QuickTime for Windows despite 2 active vulnerabilities

Security firm urges Windows users to uninstall media player.

by Dan Goodin -

Ars Technica | Apr 14, 2016 4:30pm PDT

If your Windows computer is running Apple's QuickTime media player, now
  would be a good time to uninstall it.

The Windows app hasn't received an update since January, and security
  researchers from Trend Micro said it won't receive any security fixes in
  the future. In a blog post published Thursday, the researchers went on to
  say they know of at least two reliable QuickTime vulnerabilities that
  threaten Windows users who still have the program installed.

"We re not aware of any active attacks against these vulnerabilities
  currently," they wrote. "But the only way to protect your Windows systems
  from potential attacks against these or other vulnerabilities in Apple
  QuickTime now is to uninstall it."

The retirement of QuickTime for Windows has been in the planning stages for
  at least a few months, and possibly much longer. Apple has never
  supported QuickTime for Windows 8 or 10, although some users found ways
  to work around the restriction. What's more, the January update removed
  the browser plugin for QuickTime, making it impossible for video on
  websites to seamlessly play in a user's browser. As a result, there's
  little chance QuickTime vulnerabilities could be harnessed into a
  drive-by download exploit. Instead, exploits would have to rely on social
  engineering that convinces a user to download a video and open it in
  QuickTime.

Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows
  users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates, rather than
  leaving it to Trend Micro. At least Apple's website provides removal
  instructions here. A fun fact from the Microsoft antitrust trial in 1998:
  A year earlier, during some of Apple's darkest moments as a viable
  company, a Microsoft official allegedly attempted to force it to abandon
  QuickTime so Microsoft could have the media playback market to itself.
  "'Are you asking us to knife the baby?'" then Apple senior VP Avadis
  Tevanian Jr said during dramatic testimony, quoting a fellow Apple
  executive who attended the meeting. "'Yes, we want you to knife the
  baby.'" Teveanian continued, in an alleged paraphrase of Microsoft
  official Christopher Phillips. "It was very clear."

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