A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration. (Photo : Reuters)
Following the hack that leaked more than 400GB worth of data to the public domain was the discovery of an unpatched Adobe Flash security flaw that Hacking Team discovered years ago but was kept hidden.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the Italian security firm Hacking Team did not expose the flaw to the public and appeared to have been exploiting it for years to snoop into computers completely undetected. Based on leaked internal emails and communication, Hacking Team described the Flash security flaw as "the most beautiful Flash bug for the last four years."
Flash developer Adobe published a statement saying that that the company is already working to patch the flaw and plans to release it on Wednesday, according to The Guardian.
The publication of the Flash flaw on the public domain has caused an uproar in the tech community especially in the data security sector. Once the public knows of the flaw, many malicious users might exploit it and use the perceived flaw in order to break into other computers.
The statement from Adobe reads, "Successful exploitation could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system."
The Flash flaw was reported to affect computers running on the Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems. Adobe also advised its users to avoid using Flash if not necessarily needed before the patch is released.
The Hacking Team is a cyber-security firm that has been in the center of controversy after it was discovered the company sells hacking tools and services to some of the most repressive regimes in the world. The company listed Lebanon, Egypt, Russia and Sudan as part of its clientele.
