Here's a timeless headline: Adobe rushes out emergency Flash fix after hacker exploits bug

That's like asking if anyone still uses Windows XP. Of course! And they'll never stop.

Years from now, when Adobe stops patching it and every major browser has dropped support, there will still be web services that say, "Please downgrade your browser." Their developers won't be arsed to update their site, especially if it's a paid service particular to an industry. Their customers are locked in and they would only lose money if they took the time to modernize it.

I think the Flash 0-days of the future are only going to get scarier.

"Adobe today issued a bug for Flash, which squashes a long-outdated piece of crapware being used in the wild right now by websites to blight PCs."

"Flash support"

I have several browsers that support HTML5, of course. But I have no control over what corporations and governments choose to do with their Web pages. The BBC, to pick a name more or less at random, still cheerfully asks you to install Flash if you want to watch a variety of videos.

Re: Why does Windows 10 bundle Flash?

The main reason was to bring it under patch management from a source of patches that would regularly get applied. From my experience in end user computing stuff, Flash installed standalone almost never gets updated. Sometimes that's for good reason to prevent a garbage internal application from failing, but usually it's just because no one is keeping an eye on it. This was one of the reasons Flash is such a huge target for malware...tons of consumer systems have old versions installed. See also the Java and Silverlight plugins for examples of client-side apps with lots of system access and no easy update mechanism!

Bundling it with the browser is also partially historical. Microsoft bundled Flash with IE going way back, but didn't release periodic updates until recently. Almost nothing uses Flash on the Internet at large, but there are a lot of internal applications, especially in the training field, that haven't moved on yet. They'll have to when Adobe finally kills Flash completely, but don't hold your breath waiting...

Re: Why does Windows 10 bundle Flash?

Can some explain to me why Windows 10, which according to Microsoft, is the most secure version of Windows yet, bundles Flash?

Because it is NOT the most secure version of Windows, it maybe at best the least unsecure one (big conceptual difference). Flash simply establishes another backdoor in case you disable Windows' "sharing" of your personal information. It's a backup.

The most secure version of Windows exists, but it's one that isn't installed.

Re: Why does Windows 10 bundle Flash?

Flash is only enabled by default for certain white listed websites in W10. For anything else you have to choose to enable it on a per site basis...

Yes, but it shows what happens if you let the NSA develop something in isolation. It's as bad as Windows itself.

Re: Confuzled

Yes.

:)

Slightly more serious, I am suspicious of a sudden outbreak of anti-marketing, that tends to point at manipulated information. I have seen Kaspersky refuse to play the government malware collaboration game, so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That said, they had their back end broken into which should not have happened, but that makes me wonder if it was only Kaspersky as that would be uncharacteristically, nay, unfeasibly sloppy for the Israeli..

Re: "highly focused attacks against political targets"

Yo should report these attacks to the sites involved and accuse them of hacking attempts. They choose to use the advertising engines and the advert engine suppliers choose to allow the adverts. Maybe if more people did that, eventually the sites will chose more ethical advertising engines or the advert engine people will be more careful of who they allow to advertise.

I've done so a number of times. Some sites do reply, but usually to say it's out of their control and blame the 3rd party advert supplier. They need more people to complain, loudly, before anything will ever happen.