![]() Last week Microsoft warned of a software supply chain attack in which a group of hackers compromised the software update infrastructure of an unnamed editing tool and used it to distribute malware to select victims: mainly organizations from the financial and payment processing industries. This is just the latest in a growing string of attacks over the past few years in which attackers compromised software update or distribution mechanisms. The HandBrake forum announcement contains manual removal instructions and advises users who find the malware on their Macs to change all of the passwords stored in their macOS keychains or browsers. ![]() The Trojan software installs itself as a program called activity_agent.app and sets up a Launch Agent called fr.handbrake.activity_ist to start it every time the user logs in. In order to obtain admin privileges, the malicious HandBrake installer asked victims for their password under the guise of installing additional video codecs, Wardle said. It has all of the features typically found in such programs: keylogging, remote access via SSH or VNC, and the ability to execute shell commands as root, grab webcam and desktop screen shots, steal files and more. Proton is a remote access tool (RAT) sold on cybercrime forums since earlier this year. Users of version 0.10.5 and earlier who used the built-in updater and all users who downloaded the program manually during those five days might be affected, so they should check their systems.Īccording to an analysis by Patrick Wardle, director of security research at Synack, the trojanized version of HandBrake distributed from the compromised mirror contained a new version of the Proton malware for macOS. He asked for the change over a year ago," Rubin continued, "but it took us a long time to get things set up in a way that wouldn't burn users (like just removing it outright with no dynamic loading).Users of HandBrake 1.0 and later who upgraded to version 1.0.7 through the program's built-in update mechanism shouldn't be affected, because the updater verifies the program's digital signature and wouldn't have accepted the malicious file. Jon Rubin, one of HandBrake's developers, got in touch with Ars to explain the true reason behind the removal of the DVD libraries: "One of our developers works for a large company and felt more comfortable concerning his employment if what he did in his free time didn't raise IP issues. You can download both the GUI and command line versions for all available platforms from HandBrake's download site. The new version of HandBrake is available now, though HandBrake's built-in "Check for Updates" command still reports that 0.9.2 is the most recent for us. Not much of an explanation is offered for this decision, but a little digging on our part revealed one obvious possibility: concerns over legal pressure over HandBrake's DVD ripping features. HandBrake will now rely on the libraries included in VLC to perform DVD decryption, so just make sure you have that free, open source media player installed as well. AdvertisementĪn unfortunate loss in HandBrake 0.9.3, however, are the libraries required for DVD decryption. This includes picture quality when encoding to H.264 that has been "dramatically" enhanced and sped up thanks to improvements in the x264 project, "total control" over multiple audio tracks, persistent queues that survive a crash, new and better organized presets (though you will manually need to run the "Update Built-In Presets" command from the Presets menu), a decomb filter that can be left on permanently as it only deinterlaces video when applicable, multi-threaded deinterlacing, and much more. HandBrake 0.9.3 brings so many other enhancements, though, that it could really have been called 1.0 due to the 600+ items on this version's changelog. This brings HandBrake into holy grail territory, as it is now a great one-stop shop for converting just about anything you need, thanks to the incorporation of the FFmpeg project. Fortunately, a new version of HandBrake brings a long list of new features, as well as a new option for getting from point A to B in video formats.ĭetailed on HandBrake's site, the cross-platform DVD conversion app is now capable of accepting video files already existing on your computer. ![]() The demise and later rebirth of VisualHub, a leading app in the space, left many Mac users in need of video conversion feeling uneasy. Simple consumer options for quickly encoding video on the Mac have ridden a roller coaster lately.
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