Foxit Reader security warning

Foxit Reader, an application that can be be used to read PDF files, is the target of an attack by cybercriminals.

Symantec is urging anyone who uses the software to make sure they have the latest version in order to protect against the exploit it discovered over the weekend.

"It is not clear if this specific attacker intentionally wanted to target users of the Foxit Reader who had installed and not updated their software, [but] users should nonetheless review their installations to ensure that they are not vulnerable to this attack," said Symantec's Sean Hittel.

The recent Adobe Reader security scare may have seen many surfers switch to alternatives such as Foxit.

Though several security experts recommended finding an alternative to Adobe Reader when it became clear a patch would not be available for three weeks, F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen said it was important to consider a range of alternatives.

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"Do note that while we are recommending users move away from Adobe Reader, we are not recommending any particular replacement. Instead, we recommend users to find their own Adobe Reader replacement," he said earlier this month.

"This way we get a more heterogeneous userbase, which is a good idea security-wise. Nobody wants to repeat what happened with the great IE to Firefox switch. As 40 per cent of users switched to Firefox, about 40 per cent of the attacks switched to target Firefox," he continued.