Topic: SECURITY - on November 12, 2011 at 5:18:00 PM CET
Mikko Hypponen Warns of Adobe Reader Threats
F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen urged organizations to reconsider the continued use of Adobe Reader given the tendency for attackers to exploit the application's frequent vulnerabilities.
Hypponen made the comments during the recent PacSec 2011 conference in Tokyo.
Attackers often exploit a vulnerabilities that allows malicious code to be embedded in a PDF file, which then infects the victim's computer and can create a backdoor that hackers can use to access systems and glean sensitive information.
But Hypponen says that it is not the PDF format that is the culprit, but instead it is the wide spread use of Adobe Reader that provides the attackers with the opportunity to infect a system.
"These attacks are not against PDF - these attacks are against Adobe Reader. You open this files in any other reader than Adobe Reader and there is no exploit," said Hypponen.
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