Consumers are being urged by security professionals to remove Flash from their system completely. The Adobe plugin was considered all but mandatory to access the majority of interactive content online, but that has changed.
Due in part to its dominance and ubiquity, security threats have always plagued the platform. This week’s exploit should be the straw that breaks this camel’s back though; especially because it even affects those who keep their software up to date.
Yet again, Adobe’s Flash plugin has been hit by a “zero-day” exploit, meaning that even users with a fully up-to-date installation of the software are vulnerable to attacks.
Hackers exploiting the vulnerability can install software on users’ computers against their will, and at least one group is doing just that, according to security researchers at Trend Micro.
With the rise of HTML5 and increasingly capable browsers, Flash is quickly becoming obsolete — some might say it’s been that way for years. Twitter user @MalwareTechBlog puts it best:
https://twitter.com/MalwareTechBlog/status/654044089898377216
So where does that leave owners of Flash websites?
You either invested a lot of time learning Flash to build your own flash website, or you paid a lot of money to have it done for you. In either case, the prospect of starting that process again is daunting if not downright terrifying.
In the past 3-5 years since your flash website was developed a lot has happened. The aforementioned HTML5 provides a much richer browsing experience with fewer inherent security risks than using a third party plugin. Updated CSS (style) and Javascript (dynamic functionality) features provide today’s websites with an embarrassment of riches. Consequently, redevelopment of your site will be much easier.
If you fall into this category I recommend taking a hard look at what you like (or don’t) about your flash website, and contact a web developer and/or designer to see what is possible today. If you want to be able to rapidly develop the new site, have it built to modern web standards, and ultimately manage it yourself (or finally give your intern something to do), you should learn more about WordPress.
Start the conversation today by sending me a quick message. As an advocate for a faster, safer, and all around better web my main goal is to get you into contact with the professionals and companies that can help you meet your business needs.
