Apple blocks older, risky Flash plug-ins, forcing you to upgrade

[Dietrichw]

source

 

 

Mac users who browse the Web via Safari won't be able to access Adobe Flash-enabled sites unless they upgrade their Flash Player.

 

In an advisory issued Thursday, Apple said that people with out-of-date versions of Flash who try to view Flash content in Safari may see an error message such as "Blocked plug-in," "Flash Security Alert," or "Flash out-of-date," preventing them from viewing the content.

 

Apple has always had a contentious relationship with Adobe Flash, even going so far as to ban Flash on the iPhone and iPad. But in this case, Apple's move is designed to protect users from security threats. On Tuesday, Adobe issued a critical update for Flash Player to fix a security hole that could allow hackers to steal the cookies used to authenticate users on many popular websites. But people can be lax about updating their software, so sometimes forcing a security update is the only way to keep us from running into trouble.

 

 

Good job Apple, protecting users no matter what it takes 

[BonBon Scott]

I love your news posts so much.

[Gung Pow Chicken]

[jmaster299]

That's not actually a bad thing. Flash constantly has security issues, so you should always be using the most current version. The one excuse people will make is "what about the people who don't have an internet connection to update Flash?". The simple answer to that is "If they can't get online to update Flash, that means they can't get online to apply the latest updates from Apple that would prevent them from using older versions of Flash.".

[Builder]

That's not actually a bad thing. Flash constantly has security issues, so you should always be using the most current version. The one excuse people will make is "what about the people who don't have an internet connection to update Flash?". The simple answer to that is "If they can't get online to update Flash, that means they can't get online to apply the latest updates from Apple that would prevent them from using older versions of Flash.".

Yeah. It's a really good thing.

 

And people actually get mad at Apple and say they let their guard down when it comes to viruses...it's the opposite of the truth. They are way more careful than Microsoft is.

[jmaster299]

Yeah. It's a really good thing.

 

And people actually get mad at Apple and say they let their guard down when it comes to viruses...it's the opposite of the truth. They are way more careful than Microsoft is.

That's not exactly accurate, and that was proven several years ago. Apple literally didn't give a shit about viruses and put little to no protection against them into their OS. They relied on the fact that hackers simply didn't waste their time writing viruses and malware for their operating system because their market share was so small that there was no incentive to. Especially big targets like retailers, who all use Windows. They was no incentive for them to do so.

But then Apple's popularity took off, and when it did hackers got interested. In no time at all the different Apple operating systems were found to have massive security issues, and because there was no built in protections in their operating systems, and because they users believed all the bullshit lies that they were safe, the people who got infected had no way of dealing with it.

Apple has stepped up their efforts since then, but they are still not more secure than Windows. While Apple's market share has grown, it's still nothing compared to Windows. So Windows will still receive much, much more attention from the hackers. Windows getting hacked is simply due to the fact that there are more people in the world attacking Windows than there are people working for Microsoft. Their mobile security is where Apple does really shine though. Yeah it seems shitty to most people that Apple apps can only be created on Apple operating systems, but it does help in terms of security. Apple's quality control for those apps to be released on the App Store is amazing and makes Google look like lazy morons that don't care that their app store is flooded with all sorts of malicious crap.

I don't have the link handy, but one article I read said something like 40% of the apps on the Google Play store are malicious, and that Google removes something like just over 10% of the malicious apps that get reported to them. Not 10% of all the malicious apps, but just 10% of the ones that users report to them about. So they don't even respond when their customers' inform them that an apps is dangerous. 

I'm not Apple fanboy though. Yes I currently own a 4S, but there are things about Apple that have upset me and I'm looking to move to Android probably. But it's upsetting that Google has such shit quality control. Letting every different company butcher and bastardize Android into whatever they wanted has backfired too. But thankfully they are starting to put restrictions in place, but it still does not go far enough. All the kiddies demanding free and open source everything often do more harm than good.

[MonkeyFace]

Let's not make it sound like this is  Apple's blind crusade. Amazon, Apple, and Google are all against Flash and in favor of HTML5.

 

They've all been at this since 2010. 

[Askew]

I am sick of Flash player, whenever my browsers crash it's often because of Flash.

Hopefully HTML5 will take over soon, I already use it for YouTube.

[YellowDragon]

Flash can die in a fire. HTML5 is the future

[ZombieMan762]

That's not exactly accurate, and that was proven several years ago. Apple literally didn't give a shit about viruses and put little to no protection against them into their OS. They relied on the fact that hackers simply didn't waste their time writing viruses and malware for their operating system because their market share was so small that there was no incentive to. Especially big targets like retailers, who all use Windows. They was no incentive for them to do so.

But then Apple's popularity took off, and when it did hackers got interested. In no time at all the different Apple operating systems were found to have massive security issues, and because there was no built in protections in their operating systems, and because they users believed all the bullshit lies that they were safe, the people who got infected had no way of dealing with it.

Apple has stepped up their efforts since then, but they are still not more secure than Windows. While Apple's market share has grown, it's still nothing compared to Windows. So Windows will still receive much, much more attention from the hackers. Windows getting hacked is simply due to the fact that there are more people in the world attacking Windows than there are people working for Microsoft. Their mobile security is where Apple does really shine though. Yeah it seems shitty to most people that Apple apps can only be created on Apple operating systems, but it does help in terms of security. Apple's quality control for those apps to be released on the App Store is amazing and makes Google look like lazy morons that don't care that their app store is flooded with all sorts of malicious crap.

I don't have the link handy, but one article I read said something like 40% of the apps on the Google Play store are malicious, and that Google removes something like just over 10% of the malicious apps that get reported to them. Not 10% of all the malicious apps, but just 10% of the ones that users report to them about. So they don't even respond when their customers' inform them that an apps is dangerous.

I'm not Apple fanboy though. Yes I currently own a 4S, but there are things about Apple that have upset me and I'm looking to move to Android probably. But it's upsetting that Google has such shit quality control. Letting every different company butcher and bastardize Android into whatever they wanted has backfired too. But thankfully they are starting to put restrictions in place, but it still does not go far enough. All the kiddies demanding free and open source everything often do more harm than good.

No OS can stop users from doing stupid things, and that is what a majority of security issues caused by regardless if they're on OSX, Windows, Android, iOS, ect.

It is a wives tale that OSX or Apple was secure through obscurity. Not saying that doesn't have a role but it also has to do with IE being notoriously unsafe for years and the ease of access into the OS. People on here use other browsers but IE has always been hugely popular. Still is over Chrome and Firefox.

But back to main point. It's impossible to teach the masses safe browsing habits or get people up to speed. That's why the OS doesn't matter. They are all vulnerable, and users are the biggest liability.