Adobe is releasing an update to its Acrobat and Reader programs on January 12, 2010 to address critical security issues.

 Why is this important?

A vulnerability in Acrobat and Reader was discovered by hackers and exploited by them. It causes computers to crash and to allow hackers to put dangerous programs on users’ computers. Symantec and other anti-virus vendors can’t protect against it at this time.

You may be told that your computer is protected by IT personnel, but they don’t have the full story.

While you may be protected (not guaranteed) with computers using Vista and Windows 7 if you open an existing PDF, your computer offers no protection when opening up a PDF on a website without this patch.  

This vulnerability also affects all non-Windows computers.

Acrobat and Reader are used to view PDF’s. These files are becoming more important as a way of moving and storing documents. More people use these programs everyday. Also, even if you don’t use the program, it may have been installed on your computer at the factory.

What to do.

In the program, click on help and then click on check for updates. You can click on Help and About to check your version. You will want to be on Reader version 8.1.7 or 9.2 and Acrobat version 8.1.7. You can update early to the current version. I highly recommend that all uses be on the current version of these programs.

 After updating, you will be protected against this vulnerability.

Check back with us if you have any questions.

Todd Anderson

518-796-6951

Todd@OvateSoftware.com