Is Adobe Flash Safe? A Quick Guide to Using Flash
Are you trying to figure out whether or not Flash Player is safe?
Well, is Adobe Flash Safe? If you really think about it, it’s the opposite of safe, a living vulnerability. However, many people still rely on it to perform several functions of their browsing experience.
In this article, we will cover what is flash player, why it’s not safe, and much more.
So keep reading to find out whether or not it’s worth using.
What Is Adobe Flash Player?
The very first version of Flash Player came out in 1993, however, it had only found its rise in 2013. At that point in time, it was estimated that over 400 million, out of the 1 billion computers have been using Adobe Flash Player.
But what is this Shockwave Player? In premise, Flash Player is a piece of software that was used prior to run any content that was developed on the Flash Platform. This includes, but is not limited to 3D graphics, raster and vector graphic, audio, video, and various scripts.
Albeit, now it is loathed for its lack of security (and even back then), Flash Player was quite popular. Before HTML was even integrated, practically every website was using this software for animations and videos. And yes, even YouTube was using it.
However, over the years, changes have been made. Flash Player is no longer an industry-standard as it does not have the capability for handling complex operations.
Not to mention, it’s a huge vulnerability in terms of security. Because of this, major browsers have decided to block Adobe Flash Player, which is a sensible solution towards purging it from the web.
Is Adobe Flash Safe?
So as you’ve probably come to realize, the answer to the question of “Is Adobe Flash Safe?” is no. Apart from the software not being able to keep itself up to date with the rest of the technologies, it is a big vulnerability.
Let’s take a look at some examples.
Turla
In January 2018, it was determined that Flash Player was a perfect portal for the Turla, a hacker group that was suspected for several online illegal operations, starting with backdoor malware and going as far as spear phishing diplomatic entities.
The method of these executions was practically the same as always. A spiked Adobe Flash Player update package was sent out on the web, which would allow instant access over the infected device.
Crypto
The most recent attack that was involved with Flash Player reiterates the development environment. A newly-modeled malware was guided as a push update, and it would install the XMRig crypto code on the infected computer.
The infiltration could have been easily prevented if the user paid attention. The fake update was not digitally-signed which would trigger the UAC response since the publisher could not be verified.
And because most people dismiss these pop-ups, it was easily spread throughout the web. Cryptominers are not that bad, but they do slow down your computer to a point where even watching a YouTube video is difficult.
CrescentCore
Many Mac users were affected by the CrescentCore crisis which found its attack vector through Flash Player. It is determined that malignant payloads were sent out via Flash Player updates, which in fact were DMG packages.
Because it was impossible to tell them apart, it was devoted that the best action was to avoid updates altogether, including those from the official website. So if you’re still wondering why is adobe flash player blocked, think again.
#15982
There’s also the zero-day security issues that were determined by Gigamon ATR. It was codenamed CVE-2018-15982. This security vulnerability was exploited through the breach of the base code. As for the payload, it was delivered via a regular document from Microsoft Office that was infected.
What don’t these internet villains come up with? And it’s all unbeknownst to the greater population, meaning that each and every computer at any given point in time can be infected with something completely novel.
A Short Note On Adobe Flash Player
Are you still thinking about using Flash Player? Well, in premise, the Flash Player has more in common with the appendix rather than any functionality of the online environment.
To be more detailed, even though the appendix served a purpose a long time ago, now it’s practically useless. That’s what Flash Player is now. A ticking bomb that goes off at any moment and a tool that no longer serves a greater purpose.
Despite Shockwave’s security issues, some websites still rely on it. And we’re not even mentioning small names. Here are some big ones – Vimeo, Huffington, Fox News, Crunchyroll, Hulu, etc.
Not to mention, Flash Player has found its way into the heart of the online browser gaming industry. A great deal of these websites use Flash Player, and nobody can do anything about it.
So what is there really to be done about it? Nothing much. You can disable it or you can make use of it. It’s entirely up to you. If anything, just keep it under the ask-to-use permission and you should be fine.
Flashing for You
Now that you know the answer to the question of “Is Adobe Flash Safe?”, you are well on your way to deciding whether or not it’s something that you would like to use. As long as you follow the safety precautions and don’t download sketchy updates, you should be fine.
If you’re interested in similar articles, go through the rest of the technology categories at the top of the website.
