Abandoned Popcorn Time apps had to be disabled to prevent a zombie army

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Popcorn Time" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/15706750/CE_tJ_AUIAA9JV-.0.0.1456496896.png?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Remember <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/23/9603070/popcorn-time-movie-piracy-app">Popcorn Time</a>, the app that served as an easy-to-use front end for streaming torrents of movies and TV shows? Development of the MPAA's least-favorite app of the 2010s has been <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/23/9600576/popcorn-time-history-timeline">abandoned for years</a>, but the "Netflix of Piracy" software is still installed on millions of devices that are just waiting to join a bot army. Researchers at <a href="https://labs.eye.security/operation-ixim-preventing-a-botnet-of-millions-of-popcorn-time-users/">Eye Security</a> found the updater for a Popcorn Time fork called "Time4Popcorn" still running on tons of Windows, macOS, and Android devices located around the world, phoning home to now-abandoned web domains over unencrypted HTTP and running an outdated, insecure version of Chrome.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Eye Security's Niels Teus …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/1017914/popcorn-time-piracy-botnet-avoided">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>