Special Edition – Adobe Reader Security Flaws

The on-going security issues with Adobe Reader continue to plague not only Adobe, but 500 million users of their software.  Adobe Reader is a free program designed to read PDF files.  It has become a security mess for Adobe as they continually have to create new fixes and upgrade their software to prevent users from being infected with malware, planted in supposed PDF files.  Some of it is pretty bad.

Their situation has become so bad over recent months that almost half of all targeted security attacks were aimed at Adobe Reader and Acrobat!

In addition, the program is now so bloated with code that it is over 200 Mgs in size. If you use it, have you noticed how long it now takes to load? 

The size also makes it harder to find flaws, except if you are a bad guy.  They somehow continue to find security holes and exploit them. And to make matters worse, Adobe has been very slow to issue patches.  Interestingly, most,if not all of their security issues can be traced back to Java Script, which is almost never used to read PDF files.

So the simple solution to be safer using Adobe Reader is to open any PDF file you might have on your computer, go to <Edit> <Preferences>, then go to the section marked “Java Script.”  Once there, just unclick the “Use Java Script” line, and you will be safe.  And it will not affect your ability to read PDF files.  So simple.

There is another solution that I and other tech experts have opted to do.  That is to delete Adobe Reader from their systems and install a different PDF reader.  Most, including me, use a free program called Foxit, which can be downloaded from the Foxit Website.

It is only 10% of the size of Adobe Reader, so it downloads quickly and opens and runs much faster.  Heartily recommended…with one caveat…you should also go into the <Edit> <Preferences> and turn off Java Script. Make sure you also tell it to be your default PDF reader. 

For more information on Adobe Reader problems, there is an interesting article in a recent edition of the Washington Post that explains much of their on-going issues.  I am sure after reading it you will want to dump the program as I did.