Cyber
10:21, 17-Oct-2017
Adobe warns that hackers are exploiting its Flash software
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Adobe Systems Inc. warned on Monday that hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in its Flash multimedia software platform in web browsers, as the company urged users to quickly patch their systems to prevent such attacks.
The warning comes after cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab Inc. said a group it was tracking, BlackOasis, used previously unknown weaknesses in the program to plant malicious software on computers before connecting them back to servers in Switzerland, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Kaspersky said the malware, known as FinSpy or FinFisher, is a commercial product typically sold to nation states and law enforcement agencies to conduct surveillance.
Kaspersky said a group it was tracking, BlackOasis, used previously unknown weaknesses to plant malicious software on computers. /Reuters Photo
Kaspersky said a group it was tracking, BlackOasis, used previously unknown weaknesses to plant malicious software on computers. /Reuters Photo
Kaspersky said its assessment of BlackOasis shows it is targeting Middle Eastern politicians and United Nations officials engaged in the region, opposition bloggers and activists and regional news correspondents with the latest version of FinSpy.
The company said victims have so far been observed in Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Iran and elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East.
Adobe said it had released a Flash security update to fix the problem, which affected Google’s Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge and Internet Explorer browsers as well as desktop versions.
Adobe said it had released a Flash security update to fix the problem. /Reuters Photo
Adobe said it had released a Flash security update to fix the problem. /Reuters Photo
The company announced in July that it would retire its once-ubiquitous technology used to power most of the media content found online by the end of 2020.
It was heavily criticized by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, with alternatives such as HTML5 emerging in recent years and several web browsers now requiring users to enable Flash before running it.
On the Chrome browser, Flash was used daily by 17 percent of desktop users, down from 80 percent in 2014, Google said at the time Adobe announced its retirement.
Source(s): Reuters