Adobe Flash Player logo (Photo : Adobe blog)
Following a report showing security risks of Adobe's animation software last week, a high-ranking member of Facebook's security team has posted a tweet calling for Flash Player's end. This followed a week after online hackers stole internal documents from an Italian security company, and the issues could be an indicator that Steve Jobs' 2010 dream for a Flash-free world might become reality.
The comments from Facebook were made by its security chief Alex Stamos. He joined the social media company in June, after being on the payroll of Yahoo.
The 400GB Adobe software-hacked documentts were lifted from Hacking Team, which referred to a "Flash bug." That was just the beginning. Since the hot news, independent researchers have confirmed that three new web attacks have been conducted by using Adobe's streaming video software.
Hacking Team stated in a July 8 press release that it has lost the power to control who uses the tech, thanks to criminal actions, according to CNET. It has resulted in an "extremely dangerous" scenario.
Adobe has not released software patches.
Stamos' anti-Flash comments echo an open letter that Jobs wrote in 2010, in which he stated that the Adobe Flash Player "falls short" in several areas. Before his harsh words, Flash ran on over 800 million mobile devices.
Three years ago Flash Player was used on 39 percent of websites that HTTP Archive tracks. However, the figure is still almost one-fourth of sites. The situation explains why Microsoft and Google have given special status to the software.
Adobe has shared that Flash tech can access over 500 million mobile devices. It has also issued several security advisories this year.
YouTube shifted from Adobe Flash earlier this year, and opted for HTML5 instead, according to BGR. This made Flash as relevant as dial-up Internet.
Stamos tweeted that Adobe should set a date for the end of its Flash Player, so browsers can make plans to drop the video streaming software. He called for at least "one" set date.
