Adobe Issues Emergency Update to Flash After Ransomware Attacks

[IDemo]

Source: NBC News

Adobe issued an emergency update on Thursday to its widely used Flash software for Internet browsers after researchers discovered a security flaw that was being exploited to deliver ransomware to Windows PCs.

The software maker urged the more than 1 billion users of Flash on Windows, Mac, Chrome and Linux computers to update the product as quickly as possible after security researchers said the bug was being exploited in "drive-by" attacks that infect computers with ransomware when tainted websites are visited.

Ransomware encrypts data, locking up computers, then demands payments that often range from $200 to $600 to unlock each infected PC.

Japanese security software maker Trend Micro Inc said that it had warned Adobe that it had seen attackers exploiting the flaw to infect computers with a type of ransomware known as 'Cerber' as early as March 31.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/adobe-issues-emergency-update-flash-after-ransomware-attacks-n552826

[MowCowWhoHow III]

1. If Flash were a dog it would be humanely put to sleep

But hey ho, another chance for the hurried/inattentive to install some bloatware.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Yea, I hate that. nt

[IDemo]

4. Yes, that's insult-to-injury

Unfortunately, Flash remains in widespread use on the vast majority of internet connected devices. There are alternatives, and Adobe has been moving with glacier speed (pre-climate change) toward retiring the Flash player in favor of HTML5.

[Gore1FL]

11. I call it Remoraware to piss off the vendors. n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Always backup files with two extra copies (3 total) and one of them off-site

Then you can play the ransomware criminals like fish or get the police / FBI to play them.

Three copies: one in machine, one external or removable, one in a bank vault or friend's house or at your office.

That way you are protected if you accidentally format the backup drive during restoration or if the backup drive also got corrupted or bit rot somehow. You are also protected if there is a fire or burglary.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. Do people really still have that mess on their computers after all the warnings?

[WhoWoodaKnew]

6. I think? it's built into Chrome (can be disabled).

[hunter]

8. The Chrome version is supposedly more secure...

... but not from the eyes of Google.

I suppose if you are trusting Google with your mail, why not trust them to keep their licensed version of Flash secure?

[hunter]

7. Flash *IS* spyware.

Why does anyone still act surprised whenever people worse than obnoxious advertisers use Flash to break into their computers?

I don't install Flash on my machines. Part of it is that I find animated and audio advertising extremely annoying. (I don't use ad blocking software except to block animated and audio advertising; this is also the reason I don't watch television.) The only web site I commonly visit where this is a problem is BBC news. They still require Flash be used to view their videos. So I don't view their videos... oh well, their loss, not mine.

[packman]

9. I just this A.M. had a call from Wayne at Microsoft Tech Support

a very nice oriental sounding man who said they had been receiving a lot of error messages from my computer. Maybe I shouldn't have hung up on him?

[Bearware]

12. The nice man you talked to most likely is not at Microsoft but instead is part of another con.

Perhaps you forgot the smilie.