Adobe has just issued a new critical update  for its popular Adobe Flash software.  I have been warning you for years about flaws in Adobe Flash that have been exploited by hackers and identity thieves against individuals, companies and government agencies including the U.S. State Department and the White House.  Problems with Adobe Flash are nothing new.  In 2010 Steve Jobs vociferously complained about its security and it has routinely been cited as being extremely vulnerable.  Despite security patch after security patch, new problems keep coming up.  According to security company, Symantec in 2015 80% of the newly discovered software vulnerabilities which can be exploited by malware created by cybercriminals involved Adobe Flash.

It appears that just as companies retire certain programs when it is just too difficult to patch them, this may well be the time for Adobe to retire Flash and if it doesn’t, you should consider retiring it yourself and replacing it with another plugin that performs the same function, but is safer.    Adobe Flash has already been proven to be so vulnerable to successful attacks by hackers that installing new security patches as quickly as they are issued is little more than putting a Band-aid on the Titanic if I can mix my metaphors.

Microsoft now blocks Adobe Flash by default in its Edge browser due to security concerns.  Microsoft also blocks outdated versions of Adobe Flash from running in Internet Explorer on Windows 7.  If you use Windows 8.1, Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012R2, this will not affect you because these systems automatically install Adobe Flash security patches.  In addition, to Microsoft both Google, Apple and Mozilla have  indicated that are blocking Adobe Flash.

TIPS

Here is a link to the latest Adobe Flash updates:

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2017/03/14/Adobe-Releases-Security-Updates

However, it may well be time for you to replace Adobe Flash to avoid problems.

Some alternative plugins you may wish to consider to replace Adobe Flash include  GNU Gnash, and Silverlight.  Silverlight can be downloaded free directly from the Microsoft at this link: https://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

while GNU Gnash can be downloaded free at this link: http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/