Researchers Push Over 2 Million Updates to Remotely Disable Popcorn Time Updater That Could Fuel a Botnet

Between November 2025 and March 2026, Dutch security firm Eye Security pushed over 2 million updates to computers worldwide to disable a long-running Popcorn Time updater. This updater, which had been running for years, posed a significant risk of allowing an attacker to install ransomware, steal passwords, or join a botnet. The company then handed the control of the associated domains to Shadowserver Foundation to prevent further exploitation. Users are advised to uninstall Popcorn Time entirely, as disabling the updater alone does not mitigate the remaining risks.