Adobe Flash has a long history is security vulnerabilities and now Facebook’s Cheif of Security, Alex Stamos, has tweeted that Adobe set an end-of-life date for the insecure platform. This comes shortly after Mozilla and Firefox both stopped supporting Adobe Flash on default browsers. Now, in order for users to enable Java they must change it manually in each internet browser settings.

Why is Adobe Flash so vulnerable now?

Reportedly, last week, a company called The Hacking Team, was itself hacked by an unknown individual by using a new Adobe Flash exploit. The Hacking Team is a controversial company because it sells targeted malicious software and other exploits to governments and organizations which have been compromised. The unknown hackers used three vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash which have been identified by US-CERT, and need to be updated in order to keep them secure. These security flaws are only few of many which Adobe has had to respond to immediately, and caused two major internet browsers to drop them by default.

Where is Adobe Flash used?

Adobe Flash was the default programming platform for videos and moving graphics for advertisements before HTML5 was released in October of 2014. Since then many websites including YouTube have switched over to the newer, more secure programming language.

Should I get rid of Adobe Flash?

Adobe Flash is being phased out as an internet standard, however many websites still use the software in some places. Adobe Flash is much more vulnerable on the internet so we recommend to install a paid anti-virus, and make sure that you always update Adobe Flash as soon as a new update is released (but watch out for the extra installations they prompt you to install like McAfee and Google Chrome). If you are worried about your system and want to make sure that your network is as secure as possible it might be a good idea to remove or disable Adobe Flash from your computer.