As virus writers continue to find new and inventive ways of infecting our systems their attention has turned to two largely used, and largely insecure products over the last year: Java and Adobe Acrobat. Even with up-to-date antivirus software installed, the security vulnerabilities in these two products in particular have time and time again been the vector by which infections have snuck their way onto systems this past year. As such, as these products have come under attack it has been critical to update both of these products on a regular basis to ensure your system stays secure.
On Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 Adobe will be ending support for Adobe Acrobat 8.
Due to the high incident of attacks against the Acrobat platform in recent months it is critical that this product stays up to date. Unfortunately, after November 3rd, 2011 Adobe will no longer be updating Adobe Acrobat 8. Future viruses written to take advantage of flaws in Adobe Acrobat 8 after this date will go unchecked and the incidence of infection will skyrocket. Because of this fact it is imperative that all users of Adobe Acrobat upgrade to version 9 or 10 before this date.
Two Options Available
The Free Method: If all you need to do is view and print PDFs (or fill out forms) then upgrading to the free Adobe Reader X is recommended. Newer versions of Microsoft Office (2007 & 2010) support creating PDFs from Word and Excel documents so although there is no "PDF printer" you can still save these documents to PDF. Additionally, Google Chrome allows any website to be saved as a PDF. Lastly, if you need to be able to print to a PDF using a different program that what's listed above you can install the free PDF Creator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) to allow any program capable of printing to create a PDF.
The Paid Method: If in addition to the above you need to create Adobe Acrobat Forms, alter PDF files, or scan to PDF (with scanners that require you open the Adobe Acrobat software to perform a scan) you will require the paid version of Adobe Acrobat.
Whichever method you choose (or require) we're here to help guide you. For assistance in checking your network for this product and developing a plan to eliminate this vulnerability just give us a call at (310) 782-6112 or e-mail support@swallservices.com.
For more information please visit: http://blogs.adobe.com/adobereader/2011/09/adobe-reader-and-acrobat-version-8-end-of-support.html
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