The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, otherwise known as US-CERT, has urged the Windows PC users to uninstall Apple QuickTime video player as soon as they can.
This urgent call to action was further supported by the security software maker, TrendMicro, which discovered that the software is vulnerable to a couple of critical bugs, more so when Apple is no longer running any security patches on QuickTime for Windows.
"Computers running QuickTime for Windows will continue to work after support ends. However, using unsupported software may increase the risks from viruses and other security threats. Potential negative consequences include loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data, as well as damage to system resources or business assets," says the pressing message from US-CERT, which also cites two main reasons behind uninstalling the software.
First, Apple has stopped supporting the QuickTime player for Windows, which means it will no longer update the player with security patches from time to time, and thus advises the users to uninstall the same. However, it points out that this does not apply to the Mac users who will receive regular patch updates.
Second, TrendMicro's Zero Day program noted two high-risk vulnerabilities in QuickTime for Windows, which can be triggered when the user accesses any tainted file or opens any malicious site.
With Apple backing out of the game, instant removal of the Windows software might be a good idea to protect the system from the potential attacks.
While no news of any such attacks against the system flaws has come to light yet, TrendMicro advises that the only solution to this problem would be to stick with Apple's recommendation. Echoing the security software maker's sentiments, US-CERT has also issued an alert warning the users of the same.
