A Unique Take on Infections - Image From SunBelt Software (VIPRE Antivirus)
While on calls in Beaverton or elsewhere, I always get the dreaded “How’d I get infected?” question. Unfortunately, it’s too broad of a question to answer the right way.
The reason I say this is that there could be hundreds of programs installed, each with their own security problems, windows updates missing, Antivirus and anti-spyware programs missing or not updated, firewalls turned off, etc.
Then, we have the “Adobe Affect”. I call it this as a lot of security researchers feel that the majority of attacks will come from Adobe this year. On top of this, there is a huge amount of vulnerabilities in the Adobe Software already. Unfortunately, the software company is typically slow to release security patches as well, so Zero-day flaws, are slow to be fixed.
Today, Sunbelt Software, the writers of VIPRE Antivirus, notified their followers, via their blog, of a flaw that allows attackers to get into your computer after the Adobe Updater Runs. That’s right ladies and gents, the simple fact of updating Adobe to patch security issues can now infect your computer. How to stop this issue? First, reboot if you see that Abode has updated.
It’s sad to see such software cause infections. Adobe Flash and Reader are some of the most popular programs installed on computers today. Well, it’s not sad – I should say that it’s disheartening. Adobe has a huge target on their back, just like Microsoft. Sadly, Adobe doesn’t really seem to be taking the issues head on, like Microsoft does with their anti-spyware, IE page blocking, etc.
So, the moral of the story is – don’t trust any software to be perfect. The more software that is installed, the bigger the target you have on your back. Keep your computer updated and for peets sake – STOP running in Admin mode with UAC turned off!
Justin
