The most recent vulnerability was disclosed in June 2020, receiving the highest possible rating of 10.0 given that successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.Ĭyber-criminals still haven't finished with FlashĪdobe announced three years ago that Flash Player would reach End of Life (EOL) on 31 December 2020, allowing time for developers to move to HTML5, JavaScript-based technologies and other alternatives. A search of the National Vulnerability Database returns 1,122 records for Flash Player, with the first published in 2002. In a few short years, vulnerabilities started to surface in the player’s code, with numerous critical flaws identified and patched with increasing frequency.

While individuals saw it as a necessary program, threat actors saw it as an opportunity, and security teams began to recognize it as their achilles heel. In fact, in 2010, it was claimed that 99% of web users had Flash installed. Millions have happily clicked the install button and run the software over the years. It didn’t take long for the pop-up message claiming that Adobe Flash Player was required to view content on a website to become familiar. Over the years, each new version offered additional functionality with new and imaginative ways to utilize the player, from games to movies, and even entire flashy websites, that provided visitors with a fun, interactive experience. Rather than static sites, it allowed web designers to finally unleash their creativity - to run short animation clips and even introduce a limited amount of user interactivity on websites.

Back in the days of dial-up when the world wide web was full of promise, and internet sites were pretty text heavy, Adobe Flash Player burst into life to change how we viewed online content.

Flash player security settings