A Computer Security heads-up

loquin

Well-Known Member
Local time
3:53 AM
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
Messages
2,207
Location
Mount Vernon, Ohio, USA
Early last month, it was reported in security and computing trade journals that the Adobe PDF viewer and Adobe Acrobat both had a bug, which allowed viruses to be installed on your computer when you opened an infected pdf or flash file. Later it was discovered that Adobe's flash player also had the bug.

It was also reported that hackers (the bad kind,) were racing to get as many infected PDF & Flash files as possible posted on the internet before Adobe fixed the problems with their programs.

A fix was supposed to take a week or so to release (apx. 15 Jan.) Adobe has just released the critical updates.

The flash reader should automatically download the updated program and install it on your computer the next time you restart your computer after the fix was released - you will have to click the 'Yes' button when it asks if it's OK to download and install the update though.

However, with Adobe Acrobat and Adobe's PDF viewer, you may need to manually request the latest updates. (You can request that the viewer automatically check for updates, and optionally automatically download them, on a weekly or monthly basis though - With Adobe 9, this is configured under the Edit, Preferences menu, then select the Updater option.)

Below are a couple of screen-shots of the update process for Adobe PDF Viewer 9. Other versions, or Adobe Acrobat, should be very similar in the way you check/install updates..

First, select the Help, Check for Updates menu, then, if updates are found, click the button telling adobe to download/install the update. The updater may notify you that it needs to shut down the reader to perform the install.

After the update has been installed, do the Check For Updates, Download/Install Updates cycle again, until there are no more updates to be installed. (If it's been a while since you did this, there may be several updates sitting in the queue, waiting to be installed. (Later updates may require an earlier update to be installed...)

I would recommend that you make sure the latest updates are installed. There's a lot of malicious software out there...
 

Attachments

  • AdobeUpdate1.JPG
    AdobeUpdate1.JPG
    46.1 KB · Views: 133
  • AdobeUpdate2.JPG
    AdobeUpdate2.JPG
    19.1 KB · Views: 122
Last edited:
I use Linux and FireFox. No worries. :giggle::giggle::giggle:

Just out of interest, how do you view Adobe PDF files under Linux?
Don't you still need to use Adobe Acrobat or the Acrobat pdf viewer?

I won't go into how little protection my old WIN98 machine has, but I never have problems with any viruses etc. 12 years and counting - never had a virus and only ever had one piece of malicious software, a dialler. I was (luckily) straight onto it, unplugged the modem before it could do anything, then found and deleted it. (Did a search for files created in the last day, it was easy to spot.)

(I downloaded and installed FireFox a couple of years ago, but wasn't happy with it and went back to IE.)

... Steve
 
Last edited:
Just out of interest, how do you view Adobe PDF files under Linux?
Don't you still need to use Adobe Acrobat or the Acrobat pdf viewer?

Adobe has always had a version of their reader for Unix and Linux. That's what made Portable Document File truly "portable" as you could read them regardless of operating system.

If you don't want to use Adobe for Linux, you can install Foxit - which will allow you to create pdf's too. (for free)

I manage Linux, Unix and windows servers but my home PC's are running windows. I was joking when I made the Linux/FireFox comment because it seems whenever someone mentions "virus", people tend to start getting preachy about operating systems, browsers, etc. Everyone is a computer expert.
 
Adobe has always had a version of their reader for Unix and Linux. That's what made Portable Document File truly "portable" as you could read them regardless of operating system.

If you don't want to use Adobe for Linux, you can install Foxit - which will allow you to create pdf's too. (for free)

I manage Linux, Unix and windows servers but my home PC's are running windows. I was joking when I made the Linux/FireFox comment because it seems whenever someone mentions "virus", people tend to start getting preachy about operating systems, browsers, etc. Everyone is a computer expert.

Agreed. Why are there so few Mac and Linux/Unix viruses? BECAUSE NOBODY IS USING THOSE OPERATING SYSTEMS! Okay...not "nobody", but a small percentage of the exploitable user group. If everyone were using Mac's, the people writing malicious code would start attacking those OS's. Simple math, people - like everyone else, they are trying to get the best bang for their buck. It's not because they are so much better OS's. :D

Warner
 
Back
Top