Flash player blocked on Firefox over security risk
Adobe Systems issues alert over security flaw
Mozilla has "temporarily" blocked the Flash multimedia player on its Firefox browser following a security alert from Flash's maker, Adobe Systems.
The Flash Player Plugin was added to the list of Firefox's blocked add-ons Monday and Mozilla followed up with a Twitter post Tuesday morning.
BIG NEWS!! All versions of Flash are blocked by default in Firefox as of now. <a href="https://t.co/4SjVoqKPrR">https://t.co/4SjVoqKPrR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tech?src=hash">#tech</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/infosec?src=hash">#infosec</a> <a href="http://t.co/VRws3L0CBW">pic.twitter.com/VRws3L0CBW</a>
—@MarkSchmidtyWe are committed to protecting our users from security risks. That's why–following an Adobe alert–we temporarily blocked <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flash?src=hash">#Flash</a> in Firefox.
—@firefox
The move to block Flash comes after security weaknesses in the browser add-on was revealed in documents stolen from the Italian security company Hacking Team.
One of Hacking Team's tools stolen in the hack is aimed at taking advantage of a previously unknown bug in Flash to hijack targeted computers.
While Adobe Systems said last week that it would patch the security flaw, the Firefox block includes even the most recent version of the plugin.
Alex Stamos, the new head of security at Facebook, called for the end of the animation software in a tweet on Sunday.
It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day.
—@alexstamosElsewhere on Twitter, many pointed out that the iPhone was released without Flash support and that Steve Jobs wrote that "Flash falls short" for browsers in the mobile era.
Fun fact: many smart people originally thought it was a huge problem that iPhone did not support Flash.
—@mikkoFacebook now wants Flash dead. ElOhEl. Remember how Google, Microsoft and the herd ganged up on Apple to promote Flash against surging iOS?
—@counternotionsWe all laughed at Steve Jobs when he refused to enable Flash on iOS devices, now thr are tutorials on how to Disable flash on your browsers
—@GabbbarSinghIt's taken 8 years to go from "OMG iPhone doesn't support flash" to "uninstall flash from every single device you own".
—@yaakov_hPlugins like Adobe Flash can be disabled or uninstalled in the "add-ons" or plugins settings of your browser.