Adobe Reader: Will New Version Block Hackers or Tempt Them?
Last week's Adobe security scare was just the latest evidence that hackers still love to target Reader and Flash. A new version of Reader, due out within weeks, uses innovative technology to toughen defenses -- but malware writers love a challenge.
Mon, November 01, 2010
CIO — Here's a distinction no software company craves: For two quarters running, Adobe's (ADBE) popular Acrobat and Reader software have been the favorite target of hackers around the globe. According to Symantec's (SYMC) quarterly threat assessment, attacks related to PDF usage accounted for 36 percent of malicious activity in the most recent quarter and 57 percent in the preceding three months.
Indeed, yet another attack widespread attack struck just last week, targeting Flash Player, Reader, and Acrobat on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. The vulnerability, Adobe reports, can cause affected systems to crash and allows attackers to take control of them.
Fortunately, though, help is on the way. By the middle of November, Adobe expects to launch version 10 of Acrobat Reader, built upon a technology known as "sandboxing." Simply put, the program will run inside a kind of digital shell that keeps it from interacting with the rest of the computer—unless it has explicit permission from a feature called the broker. I'll explain how this works in a bit.
There's a rather nasty twist to the latest attack. According to Adobe, it appears to target the latest version of Reader, version 9, while ignoring older versions. That's something of a slap in the face to conscientious users who follow the advice of Adobe and other software vendors to keep up with the latest version of their programs.
PDF Safety Tips
The good thing about Adobe's PDF format is that nearly everybody uses it—and if you just need to read those documents, it's free. Sadly, the program's very popularity is what attracts the bad guys. Hackers, say the security experts, look for a "target-rich environment," and with tens of millions of users, Acrobat and Reader fit the bill.
I've never heard a compelling argument that Adobe's product's are inherently insecure, or simply poorly designed, but from a consumer's point of view, it really doesn't matter. Having a chunk of malware dropped on your computer is always bad news.
So what can you do to stay secure? I wish I had advice that went beyond the conventional wisdom, but I don't. I contacted security experts at Adobe and Symantec, and they both said pretty much the same thing. Marc Fossi, Manager, Research and Development, Symantec Security Response said this:
1. Consumers should make sure to keep their software up-to-date with all the most recent versions and security patches at all times. An easy way to do this is to ensure that applications are configured to retrieve updates automatically whenever there is a live Internet connection.
