Re: Is The Vlc Media Player Safe
Mathilda Gibby
Ever wondered whether your media app might be leaving your device vulnerable to security breaches? Even as we use these apps on a daily basis, there remains the possibility that video and audio players can be exploited through a single critical flaw for the delivery of viruses and other malware to unsuspecting users.
These threats can come from opening malware files through a player, but they can also exist as security loopholes in the software itself or disguise themselves as codecs that need installing to play a media file format.
Along with the data tracking capability of such an app, the overall verdict would be to look elsewhere for a media app with less intrusive behavior that could potentially leave you vulnerable to unwanted or malicious software.
The best option, however, is to choose a premium safe media player for Mac like Elmedia Player that enjoys ongoing support to ensure security exploits get fixed quickly so that the app stays one step ahead of the hackers at all times. Why settle for an app that leaves your device vulnerable when Elmedia Player offers top-notch security and an impressive set of features in the bargain?
Elmedia Player is currently a completely safe and secure app to download and use. It has only reported one security breach in 2017, which was rapidly fixed, and since then, no further issues have emerged.
Legal Report Trademark Abuse
VideoLAN, VLC, VLC media player and x264 are trademarks internationally registered by the VideoLAN non-profit organization.
VideoLAN software is licensed under various open-source licenses: use and distribution are defined by each software license.
This can be mitigated on GrapheneOS via the Storage Scopes feature, but this isn't the case on other operating systems, and I don't see a good reason why it couldn't just request the appropriate media permissions for audio and video only instead.
I use VLC with no permissions and storage scopes for my music and video folders only. Works fine that way. Its a great video player, for music the UI is a bit boring but it does everything I need as far as making a playlist, shuffle, etc... Only thing it lacks IMO is a tag editor .
Are the permissions shown on the all permissions screen for the app just those possible and the ones on the app permissions screen the ones the app is actually allowed to use? Seems like this must be the case but I can't find any documentation or discussion about this. There is one thread started on Reddit that was shut down without an answer or redirect. VLC and every app I check seems to have contradictory permissions between these two lists.
On the App info screen under permissions the text shows no permissions granted. Click that and you're now on the app permissions screen. Here, no permissions allowed is shown under allowed permissions. For VLC, microphone, network, notifications, and sensors are shown under not allowed. Great. Now click the three dot menu in the top right and go to the all permission screen. The first permission in the list is microphone and just below that shows record audio. Click that and a message says "this app can record audio using the microphone while the app is in use." This is just an example app and permission.
Thanks for the reply matchboxbananasynergy. Changing the name of the all permissions list to something more clear or adding some text in the list to state what you have said sure would be helpful for everyone to understand what is going on here.
Personally I try and limit my exposure to this kind of software and if you do use it, always download from a reputable source and never update based on a pop up or email. Also, turn off auto update if that's a feature, do it on your terms. Check all downloads with AV endpoint detection before installation (although that won't always protect you) and don't upgrade at the bleeding edge - let the update roll out for a while - if it's dodgy the Internet will soon let you know.
If you have an older version of VLC installed you can check for updates and download the latest version and it should get it from a secure server. It even has a checksum function to make sure you got a clean one. People do a quick search and get it from any source but you should always get the free opensource stuff from the developer working on it if you can. You should with anything you download but it's particularly easy for hackers to infect the opensource stuff. The only other site I trust is Sourceforge.net and I don't even trust them if I can help it. If I find something there I want I always try to search for the developers direct site and download it there or go to where they say it's safe to download. Sometimes they send you back to Sourceforge and sometimes they don't ... The only free stuff I use is Gimp, Blender, Open Office, and VLC and they all have their own sites.
I didn't even realize they were still updating VLC. I thought it died many years ago along with Winamp. Speaking of, they are bringing Winamp back sometime soon. I liked how you could customize it like Reaper. I had a skin for it that was all analog meters but eventually had to stop using it as Window's advanced and Winamp died. You can still get the last official version that came out years ago but on new high res monitors it's almost impossible for me to see. I used to make my own skins for it but I deleted all that stuff a long time ago when it died off.
I haven't been able to find one that you didn't have to pay a lot of money for. The old version of Windows Media Player is still on your system, assuming you are running Windows 11. You just have to dig for it. I like it better than the new media player, but I dislike them both. I always used Winamp and VLC. But like I said above, I thought VLC died out a long time ago with Winamp but I'm wrong.
You can also upload the VLC install file to several free virus checking sites and they'll scan it too. I use this site and this site.
As is payware. According to the article, the .DLL payload got on the computers in question via compromised unpatched Microsoft Exchange Servers. It didn't actually come with VLC, it was activated when the user tried to convert media using VLC.
So this malware attack, which has so far caused untold losses (and I looked, none of the stories told of any losses caused by it) has missed me just like all the others in my 40 years of using computers. Not that I haven't tempted fate by using free software like Cakewalk, Google Chrome, and the Meldaproduction FreeFXBundle.
I also noticed that none of these stories had any suggestions as to what to do to keep yourself safe. It's as if they want a lot of people to pass it around so that more people can click on it and drive up the traffic stats to their webservers.
I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I've actually had a virus infect my system. I can honestly only remember 2 times specifically. Both came from the same source before I realized what had happened. It was a mouse driver floppy and I still remember the virus. Die Hard. It manifested slowly and eventually all you saw were 2 purple letters come streaming from the center of your screen "DH" and it would turn black. The more you rebooted the worse it became until eventually it's all that would happen. It came on the floppy for the mouse driver on a brand new system I ordered. When I contacted them they said the system the mouse manufacturer made the floppies from got infected and it had nothing to do with them but the only fix was to swap out the HDD so they overnighted me a new HDD and different mouse at no charge.
I never knew you could use VLC to convert file types. I need to dig in to it more I guess. I tried to use it for streaming and could never get it to work and I used it to check files I ripped from my own blu ray's and converted. Window's gets all pissy about those file types so I just throw them on a thumb drive now and pop in my TV and they play great. No disc player needed.
I used to use a free program called Format Factory to convert files but Windows started scanning it and marked it as a security threat so I stopped using it. And when you pull up their website now it says it's unsecured. So I don't know what happened with them. It was a really nice program but I've been afraid to use it since that started happening. If I want to shrink a jpg now for the forums I just use the built in MS paint program. Gimp is actually pretty difficult to use for such a quick simple thing.
VLC is my go to player. I recently had a request asking me if I wanted to update it. I really didn't think much of it at the time since it was they who were making the request from the player portal. VLC has lots of capability some might not be aware of, including reading lots of video codex little else can can read.
We use VPN at work, but clicking on a sour link from Russia probably won't save your butt. I had an attempted ransom a long time ago. I played hardball. I just wiped the computer and started over. That was back in the day when I was dumb enough to use Limewire to download music. That's pretty much like opening the door and saying, "come on in".
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