14 DAY TRIAL // As long as Adobe's Flash Player plugin is still alive and installed on your personal computer, it will only cause damage to it. Adobe Flash is often described as a security vulnerability, as it it's full of security flaws and Adobe won't patch them as fast as they should.
The latest, as reported by Reuters, is said to let hackers plant malicious software on your personal computer. The malware was discovered by security firm Kaspersky Lab and it's called FinSpy or FinFisher, which is usually used for surveillance by law enforcement agencies.
According to the report, Kaspersky Lab was actively tracking a hacker group called BlackOasis, which apparently managed to install malicious software on computers using the security vulnerability in the Adobe Flash Player plugin, before connecting those computers back to servers in Netherlands, Switzerland, or Bulgaria.
The BlackOasis group is using FinSpy to target UN (United Nations) officials and Middle Eastern politicians, as well as regional news correspondents, activists, and opposition bloggers, but victims were also reported in the United Kingdom, Russia, Africa, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.
Adobe Flash will die in 2020
Adobe Systems said earlier this year that it would put its vulnerable and buggy Adobe Flash Player plugin to sleep for good more than two years from now, in 2020, but, until then, people are still vulnerable to attacks and malware like FinSpy, so Adobe needs to do a better job at keeping their software up-to-date, at all times.
They already released a security update to fix the said issue allowing hackers to plant malicious software, which affected the popular Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer web browsers. However, users also need to make sure they keep their apps and operating systems up-to-date, always, if they don't want hackers to hold their data for ransom.