Adobe tops security risk list

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Adobe has taken top spot in a new league table highlighting PC vulnerabilities.

The report, released by Kaspersky Labs, revealed the top 10 PC security risk programs, with Adobe Acrobat coming in first place.

However, the situation gets worse for Adobe, which also has programs ranked in 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th place on the same list.

A specific vulnerability within Adobe Acrobat Reader was reportedly found in around 40 per cent of surveyed computers – a security flaw which Kaspersky Labs ranked as “extremely critical.” The report claimed the hole allowed hackers to gain access to a PC via local user privileges, where they could then release malignant code.

Adobe Reader comes up a second time in the report in 10th place with “multiple vulnerabilities” – this time with only an eight per cent occurrence rate but still achieving a “highly critical” score.

Adobe Flash Player does little better, occupying both second and third positions in the chart - also reported as having multiple vulnerabilities. Flash appears to have similar problems to Acrobat but with the additional issues of “exposure of sensitive information” and a “bypass” of security systems.

Adobe Shockwave also makes an appearance in 9th place, with a “highly critical” rating.

It’s not just Adobe receiving this embarrassing exposure though, as the report is damning for some of the biggest names in technology.

Microsoft Office OneNote comes in at number eight on the list, following WinAmp in 7th place. Meanwhile, Apple’s Quicktime has multiple vulnerabilities in 6th place and Sun’s Java sits in both 4th and 5th position.

The report said in 2010 the majority of programs on the list were Microsoft, while this year only one such program is present.

Kaspersky labs said in the report: “All of the vulnerabilities that appeared in the top 10 enable cyber criminals to take control of computers at the system level, which makes the other benefits seem relatively insignificant.”

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