More Adobe security woes

Users of Adobe Reader have again been told to switch to another PDF reader to protect themselves from security issues. Finnish security firm F-Secure said that hackers could take control of a PC remotely by exploiting the two newly discovered flaws. Adobe said it was working on a fix. "Adobe plans to provide updates for all affected versions for all platforms to resolve this issue," a statement on the Adobe site read. "We are working on a development schedule for these updates and will post a timeline as soon as possible," the statement continued. The company was criticised for taking three weeks to patch Adobe Reader when another vulnerability was found earlier in the year. The slow response led to some security firms calling for surfers to boycott Adobe Reader, a call which F-Secure repeated. "We've said it before but it's worth repeating - use an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader. We won't recommend any reader over another as it would be better if people use a wide variety of them," said F-Secure's Patrik Runald Runald advised anyone unable to use an alternative such as Foxit Reader or CutePDF to adjust settings in Adobe Reader to protect from the problem. "If you can't change from Adobe Reader we strongly recommend that you disable its ability to run JavaScript," he said. To do this, click on the Edit tab, choose Preferences, JavaScript and uncheck the box that says 'Enable Adobe JavaScript'.