Here at Instant IT, we are experts on cybersecurity and how to stay safe on your home devices while browsing the internet. As part of a series of posts intended to keep you informed on important threats, today we would like to highlight the newest vulnerability in an app that many people might’ve heard of: Adobe Flash Player.
If you are like us, then you have definitely used Adobe Flash Player, directly or indirectly, by watching videos or playing flash games online. It’s an app that plays videos or executes programs on web pages. Its popularity peaked a long time ago, and it’s been used less and less over the years as new, more efficient video player apps have come out. Because of this, Adobe Flash Player has finally reached the end of its life.
What does this mean ?
Well, when an app or service has reached the end of its life, there are a couple of stages that progress in order:
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The developers stop updating the app.
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Then, depending on the app, the service is taken offline.
The Security Threats begin at the start of point 1.
Why are updates so important?
To understand why updates are so important we need to understand their purpose. Updates serve three main purposes.
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To add features
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To fix bugs
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To patch security vulnerabilities & exploits
This means that once the developers stop updating the app or service, the vulnerabilities in the app go unfixed and start to be exploited more and more by cyber criminals. Threats grow more dangerous and powerful as time goes on, so time is of the essence in this scenario.
What You Can Do
To ensure you are protected both in the office and at home you need to remove Adobe Flash Player from your computers. It has already been removed from most websites, but there may be an installation still on your computer from past use.
There are a couple of easy steps you can perform to check and remove Adobe Flash Player.
> If you are on Microsoft Windows – visit your Add or remove programs utility in your settings and look for Adobe Flash Player, if you find it click Uninstall.
> If you are on Apple Mac – go to your Finder and click Applications, then right click on Adobe Flash Player and select Uninstall, then drag it to the Bin.
Remember, you can always Contact Instant IT to do this for you, especially if you have a fleet of computers, as removing Adobe Flash Player is time critical. Our techs will scour all your computers to make sure there isn’t a shred of a possible vulnerability left behind by Adobe Flash Player’s end of life cycle. Anywhere that Adobe Flash Player is installed represents a security risk.
