BFMracing
General Category => General Board => Topic started by: MrMxyzptlk on April 29, 2011, 07:36:14 PM
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Well, two things prompt me to make this post: 1) I was able to finally determine that the nasty rootkit virus I got a while back (few months ago) was from a PDF file that I downloaded and viewed, and 2) the folks at AVAST AV have just discovered yet another new exploit - and an existing virus! - that allows for infection via IMAGES EMBEDDED IN PDF FILES. (Chrome or JAVA AS AN OS is sounding better every day....)
Soooo, I'm advising folks to update to the most-current versions of AdobeTM Acrobat Reader (http://get.adobe.com/reader/completion/?installer=Reader_10.0.1_English_for_Windows) and Flash Player (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/completion/?installer=Flash_Player_10.2_for_Windows_-_Other_Browsers) ASAP.
I'm not particularly happy about doing this, as Adobe SW has consistently become more and more bloated with every new release, and obviously has been way too lax/cavalier with their allowance of code execution systems along their development path, but given the current state of KNOWN problems with these ubiquitous programs, I think it's time to bite the bullet and update, for safety's sake alone.
(NOTE: Posted in the General board for more widespread attention, but should really be in the Tech Support section, eventually....)
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This is why I'm glad that we have Mr Mxy to keep us tech-nubs advised...
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Updated :)
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I ditched Adobe Reader a while back for a couple of reasons a while back.
Now I don't have to keep updating it every other week ( :LOL:), and when I do update my reader (http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html), it isn't a monstrous download.
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I was actually discussing this with my Dad the other night, who is doing a Masters Degree in IT security. I guess its a similar reason to why all the email systems suddenly require you to "allow them" to display embedded images. That is the viruses can actually be transported to your computer if you simply view the image.
Seriously the people who go through this effort to mess up other people's computers is scary.... (adobe updated now - thanks!)
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yeh its a hastle its alot of updates every week or 2
but i think its kinda worth it and thanks mxy... something for the advise
(still having trouble with your name) :Words:
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I was actually discussing this with my Dad the other night, who is doing a Masters Degree in IT security. I guess its a similar reason to why all the email systems suddenly require you to "allow them" to display embedded images. That is the viruses can actually be transported to your computer if you simply view the image.
Seriously the people who go through this effort to mess up other people's computers is scary.... (adobe updated now - thanks!)
Actually you can't get a virus by viewing an "infected" TIFF on your computer with the Picture Viewer that comes with Windows. That's not at all what this is about. It's only about the ability to impose - stack even - loadable "view-time filters" within the Acrobat PDF architecture. I.e. AdobeTM DESIGNED the capability for anyone to insert arbitrary executable code in-line into Acrobat for the handling of certain images embedded in PDFs.
Someone out there saw it as an opportunity to exploit that feature and use it as a virus-delivery device, which it indeed is is capable of allowing (in the older versions.)
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The proud Mac users should feel very offended that Mxy only posted the Windows downloads for both programs. Shame, Mxy!
JK thnx for the heads up Mxy, I updated in a jiffy. =]
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The proud Mac users should feel very offended that Mxy only posted the Windows downloads for both programs. Shame, Mxy!
JK thnx for the heads up Mxy, I updated in a jiffy. =]
What?!?!
There isn't "an app' for that?"
:siderofl:
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Idk, maybe. =p I don't have a clue about macs, but I wanted to tease you. hehehe....