So should we at least uninstall our current Notepad++ and then download a new version? What else should we do, the post really doesn’t offer any advice.
In the old post from when the update was released a Heise article is linked, that contains indicators of compromise, and in turn links to Kevin Beaumont for the details of his analysis:
I don’t think you’ll need to uninstall. If I’m reading the article correctly, it looks like they plugged the hole in their update process by switching hosting providers to one that’s even more hardened and secure. So requests from the updater should go to the correct place now and not the state-sponsored hacker.
Then in about a month, the next version of notepad++ that is released will also properly validate/verify any downloaded update files from the server.
You could also just disable the checks for updates from within the application too. Or better yet, use something like winget to handle the updates instead of the built-in updater.
So should we at least uninstall our current Notepad++ and then download a new version? What else should we do, the post really doesn’t offer any advice.
In the old post from when the update was released a Heise article is linked, that contains indicators of compromise, and in turn links to Kevin Beaumont for the details of his analysis:
https://lemmy.zip/post/54712916
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Notepad-updater-installed-malware-11109726.html
https://doublepulsar.com/small-numbers-of-notepad-users-reporting-security-woes-371d7a3fd2d9
I don’t think you’ll need to uninstall. If I’m reading the article correctly, it looks like they plugged the hole in their update process by switching hosting providers to one that’s even more hardened and secure. So requests from the updater should go to the correct place now and not the state-sponsored hacker.
Then in about a month, the next version of notepad++ that is released will also properly validate/verify any downloaded update files from the server.
You could also just disable the checks for updates from within the application too. Or better yet, use something like winget to handle the updates instead of the built-in updater.