Flashback
In what seems to be a flashback to a couple of weeks ago, when Oracle’s Java platform was found to have a vulnerability which could easily be exploited by hackers, the latest news from security companies says that Adobe’s popular multimedia platform Flash is under serious and immediate threat of exploitation by hackers.
On February 8, Adobe launched an emergency patch after announcing that all devices running Flash on Windows, OS X, Android and Linux should update their software installation as soon as possible.
The current vulnerability is particularly dangerous for users of OS X using the Safari browsers and Windows users using Firefox.
The malicious code is executed when the would-be victim’s browser opens a specially crafted flash animation file online. Once the exploit is complete, it allows the attacker full control of the users system at the same privilege level as the victim.
In response to the new threat, the popular open-source browser Firefox has issued a patch that ensures that no flash media starts playing automatically and potentially infects the computer. Make sure to view only trusted flash content.
Apart from flash animations, other potential security risks include Microsoft word documents and PDF files. Casual net surfers should note that even these traditionally inconspicuous file formats have been used by hackers in the past- and should be careful when downloading documents from untrustworthy sources.
Users should also update both their flash installation and their browsers as soon as possible.
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