Georgia Technology Authority alerts all agencies to uninstall QuickTime

ATLANTA — Channel 2's Jim Strickland checked with several local cybersecurity experts Monday and learned they're already at work to comply with a warning from the Department of Homeland Security.

Strickland broke the news on Twitter that the Georgia Technology Authority alerted all state agencies to uninstall the Apple QuickTime video player from every state computer running Windows Monday afternoon.

The executive branch alone has about 37,000 machines.

"It's potentially a pretty bad threat," said network engineer James Wright of Atlanta IT Service in Duluth.

The warning comes after a decision by Apple to no longer offer patches for security holes in the QuickTime software.

"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. The only mitigation available is to uninstall QuickTime for Windows," reads the Homeland Security alert.

"If they don't write any fixes for it, and then you're surfing the Web or going to sites that are using some sort of attack based on that vulnerability, then you're going to be at risk," said Wright.

Wright predicts half of Windows users likely won't get the message or will ignore it.

"You got a busy family, you got soccer, you got events, you got things to do so it'll just get overlooked."

Cox Media Group