Kudos
for the mixing of franchises!
No doubt it will cause great angst and pain much as the below-referenced shirt:
https://www.computergear.com/1a023-r2d2-dalek-loved-star-trek-t-shirt.html
Want to live long and prosper? Avoid pirated, malware-laden Star Wars free vid streams – and pay to watch instead
Movie fans eager for an early peek at the new Star Wars installment are putting themselves at risk of malware infection. This according to the crew from Kaspersky Lab, who warn that criminals are disguising malware as free streams of The Rise of Skywalker in hopes of scoring a few easy infections on unsuspecting users. The …
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Friday 20th December 2019 16:04 GMT Cynic_999
Re: Stupid
"
Yeah, because legit programs with flaws on parsing data files leading to arbitrary code execution do not exist.
"
They exist, but programs where such bugs can be exploited in practice are very few and far between. And unless a media application with a flaw that really can be exploited is extremely popular, a video file is unlikely to do anything more nasty than causing the PC to hang or crash.
The way the hackers operate is to disguise an executable as a media file and hope that people will double-click on it instead of explicitly loading it into a media application.
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Friday 20th December 2019 18:57 GMT Michael Wojcik
Re: Stupid
programs where such bugs can be exploited in practice are very few and far between
Sure, if by "few and far between" you mean "only numerous documented instances every year for the past decade, and then some". Here's a small sample:
2010: CVE-2010-0028 CVE-2010-0517 CVE-2010-0841 CVE-2010-1513 CVE-2010-1526 CVE-2010-1753
2011: CVE-2011-0170 CVE-2011-0191 CVE-2011-0213 CVE-2011-3402 CVE-2011-4517
2012: CVE-2012-0192 CVE-2012-0977 CVE-2012-1336 CVE-2012-3726 CVE-2012-4988
2013: CVE-2013-1119 CVE-2013-3128 CVE-2013-3894 CVE-2013-5349 CVE-2013-6045
2014: CVE-2014-0301 CVE-2014-0349 CVE-2014-1275 CVE-2014-8158
2015: CVE-2015-0074 CVE-2015-0087 CVE-2015-0088 CVE-2015-0093 CVE-2015-2426 CVE-2015-2545 CVE-2015-3095
2016: CVE-2016-4681 CVE-2016-5157 CVE-2016-7084 CVE-2016-9453
2017: CVE-2017-2925 CVE-2017-3044 CVE-2017-3051 CVE-2017-3055 CVE-2017-8781
2018: CVE-2018-3845 CVE-2018-3999 CVE-2018-4890 CVE-2018-17141
2019: CVE-2019-1150 CVE-2019-1152 CVE-2019-1419 CVE-2019-3574 CVE-2019-5089 CVE-2019-7321 CVE-2019-17244
Those are just for font and image parsing, and only a handful of the code-execution parsing vulnerabilities published in those areas. Parser CX vulnerabilities are widespread and long-standing. Hell, we have CVE-2004-0200 from fifteen years ago.
In other words, you are very much wrong.
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Friday 20th December 2019 19:18 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Stupid
These are possibles, not actual cases found in the Wild...
Guess who's wrong?
Same guys that want to believe all those CPU bugs are actually a problem.
Stop saying there are problems that still require ADM privileges while in front of the device or pre-existing malware to be an issue, no one cares.
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Monday 23rd December 2019 08:21 GMT martinusher
Re: Stupid
>Yeah, because legit programs with flaws on parsing data files leading to arbitrary code execution do not exist.
They exist only because programmers won't manage the location of data properly. In theory it should not be possible for any data to cause corruption of a computer system. Lazy use of automatic variables (or libraries that rely on these variables) and rash assumptions about data that 'will never happen' open up a rich trove of exploitable bugs.
(One thing you learn from doing embedded work is that there's no such thing as an unexpected data value -- anything and everything may turn up, invariably due to fault rather than malice.)
BTW -- There's no danger of me pirating the latest Start Wars movie.I'm one of those Grinches who think that the franchise has no artistic merit or entertainment value.)
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Friday 20th December 2019 10:46 GMT rmason
Re: Stupid
It's not downloads and torrents (etc) that they are targetting now (well, no more than normal).
This is refering to the many streaming sites out there, think youtube but it'll have cams of the latest films , and whole series to watch. Kids, plebs, and idiots. Those who couldn't have torrented without a full time IT employee to help them. The low hanging fruit, of which there are many.
You're absolutely correct, it's not the film per se, it's the 15 things they blindly click "yes" , "ok" and "install" on to make it start playing on "totallylegitfilms.ru" etc
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:19 GMT tip pc
"The only thing worse in the Star Wars universe was the Holiday Special."
don't bother watching Rise of Skywalker then.
its truly that bad.
It's like they took inspiration from return of the jedi, phantom menace, holiday special and mashed them with the worst bits of 7 & 8.
complete waste of time and money. In this day and age its a waste of carbon.
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Monday 23rd December 2019 14:36 GMT jelabarre59
Jar Jar Abrams
I'm pretty sure JJ stands for Jar Jar.
That's what YouTuber 'Nerdrotic' refers to him as.
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Monday 23rd December 2019 05:51 GMT FuzzyWuzzys
Re: I'm safe
"I gave up on all things Star Wars after I wasted perfectly good money on The Phantom Menace."
I often have this discussion with my teenage daughter ( I'm mostly pushing her buttons )...
Me: "There's only 3 films in the Star Wars franchise, IV, V and VI."
D: "Dad, there's 9 and the last 3 have been the best. Why won't you watch the last three?"
Me: "Absolute codswallop! There has and will only ever be three SW films. The other supposed 6 films are not true SW films and never will be."
D: "They tell the story after the Empire fell, the real story so we get find out how the Rebellion fared post revolution. The characters are deepers and more meaningful, it's not all gunfights there human interest."
Me: "There! Right there! We don't want girly lovey-dovey stuff in SW, we want incest, vengeful family members with axes to grind, camp robots and we want people shooting and hitting each other with dangerous laser weapons! If I want to watch naff love films I'll watch films written by Richard Curtis and starring Hugh Grant!"
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:01 GMT Wade Burchette
Re: There have only been three Star Wars movies...
Nope. The Last Jedi is, by far, worse than anything in the second trilogy. The only thing worse would be the Holiday Special. The Last Jedi was so bad that I decided never to see Solo or this latest one -- I don't even know the name of it.
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:26 GMT not.known@this.address
Re: There have only been three Star Wars movies...
Wade, if you think of anything post acquisition by the House of Mouse as a vaguely similar, but totally unconnected, set of stories then it's not quite so bad - a bit like if Luke fell asleep in the shower and woke up 7 years later to be told it was all a dream and Lucas is buying it all back when he sees what a mess the Mouse has made... (could the real fans do a crowdfunder to get it back for what the Mouse paid him? And get films based on the Expanded Universe, not the current... offerings)
Solo was actually quite good, especially in light of the Mouse-ified 'trilogy' (Farce Awakens, Lost Jedi and the latest, if the critics are right) so I'd recommend it, and Rogue One as well (although the CGI'd Tarkin and Leia aren't as good as many seem to think)...
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Friday 20th December 2019 16:48 GMT whitepines
Re: There have only been three Star Wars movies...
As someone who has had to repeatedly clean mice and their associated mess out of electrical gear (long story, the little buggers have a taste for control wiring) I have to say:
What else would anyone expect when the House of Mouse moves in, other than excrement all over what was previously there?
This is why we need limited copyright. So that the next generations can start expanding on existing culture without fear of lawyer mice...
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Monday 23rd December 2019 14:53 GMT jelabarre59
Re: There have only been three Star Wars movies...
What else would anyone expect when the House of Mouse moves in, other than excrement all over what was previously there?
What else would you expect from a company that would outright rip-off the Godfather of Manga (Osamu Tezuka), and then have the balls to turn around and try to get an injunction against Tezuka's studio's film based on the *original* property? (see "Kimba the White Lion" vs "Lion King").
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Friday 20th December 2019 10:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
Fake torrents too.
Some simply copy your search term and add a .mp3 or .mpg tag at the front.
How did I discover this? Well, my cat did. It walked over the keyboard and several torrent sites responded with that exact string of 20 characters, with
"-live version.mp3"
"-full movie.mpg"
embedded at the end. The odds of having that exact name, 20 or 30 characters long? Only a Shakespeare Monkey can answer that.
Blocking those IPs increased tremendously the odds of finding a clean copy.
A preview feature in my torrent client allows to peek at the chunk you downloaded. If you can't see it, fake it is.
PS. I don't care about Star Wars anymore, they ruined it. That Rey chick is a freaking Mary Sue that dominated the Force when Luke took some 10 years and YODA to train him. I didn't even bother to download this one.
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Friday 20th December 2019 11:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
Mary Sue
That Rey chick is a freaking Mary Sue that dominated the Force when Luke took some 10 years and YODA to train him
I've heard that said a thousand different ways by militant star wars fans , seems to be the main objection to the film.
I've come to the conclusion - i dont give a fuck. I can learn to accept that Rey is a natural with the force, and can force-skype Kylo or whatever intuitively. It dosent look that hard anyway: "*feel* the force , use your mind , think .. blah blah
Ahhh . that feels so much better , now i can enjoy the film without being a bitchy militant manbaby.
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:05 GMT Jellied Eel
Re: Mary Sue
I've come to the conclusion - i dont give a fuck. I can learn to accept that Rey is a natural with the force, and can force-skype Kylo or whatever intuitively. It dosent look that hard anyway: "*feel* the force , use your mind , think .. blah blah
But.. but.. a female jedi is empowering. And enriching given she can perpetuate the franchise and create new jedi! Which could be amusing or just messy potty training jedi baby. Toy available now for only $99 from your nearest Disney store. Plus turning Rey into a breeder would no doubt make sections of the Internet explode.
On the plus side, Disney having their own streaming means it'll be a long while till it appears on Netflix or Prime, meaning I won't be tempted by the dark side. Which also means I won't have to <shrug> at Emo Ren, who IMHO just isn't as convincingly dark as good'ol Vader.
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:32 GMT Carpet Deal 'em
Re: Mary Sue
Ignoring that you basically just agreed with her being a Mary Sue*, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't rate this one much better than The Phantom Menace. So either scores of professional critics are "militant manbabies" or it's as bad as your need to dismiss criticism implies.
*Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
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Friday 20th December 2019 13:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Mary Sue
you basically just agreed with her being a Mary Sue
ok , ture , but ... when a man is a Mary Sue no one cares. It just seems to be term invented for hating women if there isnt another obvious excuse to do so.
If a mans a chiselled jawed hero everyones like "what guy"...
Hence theres no male equivalent term.
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Friday 20th December 2019 18:42 GMT Carpet Deal 'em
Re: Mary Sue
A) Yes, people care about male Mary Sues.
B) "Mary Sue" was the name of a character in a Star Trek fanfic that parodied the trope; there's no such male prototype to use thusly.
C) Despite the lack of such a prototype, there very much exist terms(plural) to use for male Mary Sues: "Gary Stu", "Marty Sue", etc.
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Monday 23rd December 2019 15:11 GMT jelabarre59
Re: Mary Sue
ok , ture , but ... when a man is a Mary Sue no one cares. It just seems to be term invented for hating women if there isnt another obvious excuse to do so.
If a mans a chiselled jawed hero everyones like "what guy"...
Hence theres no male equivalent term.
Actually, according to TV Tropes the term is 'Marty Stu/Gary Stu'. And it's just as much of a valid complaint for male characters.
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Friday 20th December 2019 17:57 GMT Luiz Abdala
Re: Mary Sue
She could be "one with the force", but the movie director gave no background to her. There is one specific youtube video where the guy discuss this, and I agree with him, they gave no justification for her to be so attuned with the force.
They gave it to kid Anakin, where his mid-chlorians were "off the chart". He could have empowered Rey to his heart's content, but he should have given more of a background story. No such thing happened.
And Princess Lea, all of a sudden, "woke" in the vacuum of her exploded ship and propelled herself back into a vessel. What the flipping $deity. BUUUUUT, she was the daughter of Anakin, just as Luke.
They said Rey was "a great pilot". That could be further explored, like her "dodging" stuff in a manner only Jedi do, just like the pod racing with young Anakin, as the young Rey pulled her shenanigans to get her hands on the Millenium Falcon, for example...
I blame budget.
As it is, she is a god-damn Mary Sue, she can do no wrong, she is flipping perfect, with no story to back her up.
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Friday 20th December 2019 23:17 GMT Jellied Eel
Re: Mary Sue
I blame budget.
As it is, she is a god-damn Mary Sue, she can do no wrong, she is flipping perfect, with no story to back her up.
I blame Hollywood. Or possibly Abrams. Or possibly all of the above, plus focus groups. And lens flare. But it can't be easy helming a blockbuster franchise or 3, and keeping everyone happy. I've not seen the new film, and no real plans to, but sounds like it suffers the usual style over substance. Skip character development, suspend disbelief and look! Space battles! And roll credits!
But I guess that's been part of the struggle. Original (+/- slot in the series) movies had a simple and classic premise. Simple farm boy seeks adventure, finds it, discovers himself along the way, redeems baddie & roll credits... Which seems a lot like Rey's story, with less backstory and a helping of insta-Jedi midichlorian shakes, and less listening to old boomers. Da yoof generation emerges fully-formed and able to save (or defeat) Empires. The original trilogy wasn't exactly Shakespeare, but the latest batch just seems to borrow heavily from those that came before instead of taking it in a new direction.
And it has ewoks. Fricking ewoks! I guess because they're easy to have made into soft-toys in a sweatshop somewhere. Somehow, I doubt this will be the last jedi.. but that depends on the accountants I guess.
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Friday 20th December 2019 10:36 GMT Anonymous Coward
Living dangerously
I've often watched movies and series on dodgy streaming sites (and downloaded some software from torrents and other dodgy file sharing servers); I don't think I've been infected by malware, but sometime I wonder if it's just because I've not spotted it yet (especially since I've stopped using any anti virus when I switched to Win10).
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Monday 23rd December 2019 15:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Living dangerously
I've often watched movies and series on dodgy streaming sites (and downloaded some software from torrents and other dodgy file sharing servers); I don't think I've been infected by malware, but sometime I wonder if it's just because I've not spotted it yet (especially since I've stopped using any anti virus when I switched to Win10).
That's what I use the command-line "anime-downloader" for, just pull down the entire run at once (or at least the first 4 episodes of "Martian Successor Nadesico" when I could only find DVDs 2-6). Still prefer watching on legal sites when possible, but a lot of older shows aren't being streamed on legitimate sites.
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Friday 20th December 2019 11:20 GMT David Roberts
Live Linux distro?
If you just want to try and watch dodgy streams of dodgy movies, why not just fire up Linux from a Live CD or a memory stick?
I am assuming that most malware won't find anything to infect.
Or are they just phishing for people who are too low tech to grasp the concept?
There should be a market for a "safe streamer" where you just load the CD/DVD or memory stick and torrent away.
I'm waiting for it to take off then releasing some fake "safe streamer" devices at budget prices.
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Monday 23rd December 2019 16:03 GMT DropBear
Re: Live Linux distro?
You can "run as opposed to install" Linux from a CD _because_ what you have is a live CD, meant to let you do exactly that, roughly since data CDs were a thing. Otherwise you'd be stuck staring at a text prompt asking you onto which disk you want your Linux installed, instead of just firing it up fully in RAM.
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Friday 20th December 2019 12:13 GMT tkioz
Ugg. I wish that more movies did day 1 legit streaming. I don't pirate, but I loath going to the cinema, it's loud, expensive, and full of rude assholes. I just want to sit on my couch with a few friends and eat food that doesn't taste like cardboard while enjoying it. So yeah I can totally understand why people pirate.
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Friday 20th December 2019 17:44 GMT Muscleguy
If you wait it will end up in your local charity shop. Some nice folks buy the DVD/BR then rip them and then donate the disc to their favourite charity. People donate absolutely new stuff, get an unwanted present? donate it. Too embarrassed to send something back or don't want the hassle/aggro? donate it.
I volunteer in a BHF charity shop so I know. Don't wait too long though, it isn't clear how long it will be before it isn't worth stocking DVD's, old games and CD's any more. Though some hip youngsters will go through the CD's looking for interesting old stuff they don't know about.
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Friday 20th December 2019 14:47 GMT NonSSL-Login
Tell me something new...
Seems every so often around the launch of a new movie or tv series, an AV company or publication runs a story about how Kodi boxs catch fire (real story is some some Chinese box's dont have a CE certified power adapter) or trying to watch x, y or z on a pirate site will lead to your bank account being emptied.
Almost as if the MPA (piss artists formally known as MPAA) chucked them a loads of money to come up with some anti-piracy words. Carnegie Melon seems to enjoy the yearly grants from them and continue to have weirdly biased reports for an 'independent' report.
No real story from Kasperky who I usually respect for their malware breakdowns and general work, except the usual <something popular> gets more attention from malware authors or controllers. Whatever is popular gets more attention and has always been the case.
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Friday 20th December 2019 17:10 GMT NonSSL-Login
Re: Another Option
You mean the fake 4k because it is upscaled from 2k or something similar?
Or the fact they put it in a HDR container to get your TV in HDR mode but none of the Star Wars movies seem to have authored for HDR properly and the nit difference between stuff is not much different from SDR?
Star wars movies thrown on Disney+ as 4K HDR and it's anything but. Same as their TV series The Mandalorian.
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Friday 20th December 2019 17:40 GMT a_yank_lurker
Re: Another Option
No, not watching it all no matter how or when it is released or what format it is released. If you do not watch it ever you are invulnerable to accidentally getting malware from the version you are watching.
I have not watch any of the Star Wars farces since the first three even when they are free on the idiot box. And almost certainly will not watch the latest farce any time soon if ever.
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Sunday 22nd December 2019 00:38 GMT Henry Wertz 1
simple
Simple... if the movie stream claims you need a plugin or extension, it's fake and just trying to load spyware on your computer. If it claims you have to sign up, fake, they're getting your info to sell to spammers or whatever. They always redirect from a (fake) video-specific page to a generic, site-wide "signup" page, that's what tells you they don't even have the video.
Of course with Star Wars not being out there will be no real streams yet.
