Yet again another reason for us to consider removing Flash from our systems.

 

For the second time in two weeks Adobe has issued an emergency quick fix for Flash. The latest threat to users of Flash is being called by Adobe as CVE-2014-0502. This is considered a zero-day vulnerability that affects Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems running Flash player. An exploit of zero-day vulnerability is an attack of a previously unknown hole in the software that the vendor is unaware. Adobe has categorized this vulnerability as a Priority level 1 warning that if Flash goes unpatched that it could potentially allows an attacker take control of your system.

Flash is primarily used today to stream video from sites as YouTube and Facebook. Flash is also used in a lot of websites so in order to view these sites Flash is necessary. Many modern mobile OS have gone as far as preventing Flash from being installed due to the security issues from having it installed. With the latest Flash vulnerability individuals and corporations will need to decide if having Flash installed outweigh the benefits.

Gamers beware? Flappy Bird malware!

 

Late comers to the Flappy Bird phenomenon are the latest target for hackers. When the creator Dong Nguyen unexpectedly pulled the massively popular game off of both the App Store and Android Marketplace there was a sudden rash of copycat versions of Flappy Bird flooding some third-party marketplaces.

Hackers are taking advantage of people’s curiosity by releasing fake Flappy Bird applications with malware. The fake game acts like a trial version that expires, and then prompts the user to send a text message to reactivate the game. The number that’s texted is a premium rate SMS number that cost money as well as posing a security risk by giving user information in the process. Users can minimize their exposure to malicious apps by avoiding the use of third-party marketplaces.

Hackers targeting Sochi Olympics enthusiast

Earlier this week a NBC news report by Richard Engel reported of privacy threats towards Olympic attendees through their mobile devices. The report went on to demonstrate how vulnerable mobile devices like smartphones and laptops are to hackers. Within one hour of being powered up they were being attacked, and in less than 24 hours both devices where hacked compromising fake profiles that were on the devices.

There have been several people speaking out towards the validity of the report. They say that the report is misleading because the computers were infected by visiting malicious Sochi Olympic websites, and not necessarily for being in Sochi. These sites can be visited from anywhere in the world so it is possible to have your devices compromised from here as easily as being in Sochi.

Regardless of the story the threat is still present and hackers are targeting people wanting to follow the Sochi Olympics. So users should practice safe web surfing when visiting Sochi Olympic sites.