Of course, all PDF readers are susceptible to exploits - and while there’s not a lot of information about the security of Firefox’s reader, initial reviews seem positive - but the very fact that these programs are used far less than Adobe Reader means that they maintain a much lower profile with attackers. Foxit Reader, Sumatra PDF and Nitro PDF Reader are three popular and well-reviewed alternatives, and Firefox rolled out a native PDF reader earlier this year. Adobe Reader is what most people use to read PDFs, but it’s not the only PDF reader out there. The almost immediate violation of this supposedly secure operation mode for Reader is all the evidence you need that no matter how safe such operating modes are supposed to be, they can’t be trusted entirely. Users can enable Protected View by going to ‘Edit,’ then ‘Preferences’ and selecting ‘Security (Enhanced).’ The second is Protected Mode, a sandbox environment designed to contain the execution of any suspicious script but that has, unsurprisingly, already been exploited - and subsequently patched - since its release in late 2012, as detailed by Kaspersky Threatpost writer Michael Mimoso. The first is Protected View, a read-only mode that blocks the file executions until the user verifies them to be legitimate. Adobe is, of course, well aware of the vulnerabilities of its platform and offers two safe modes in which Reader can be operated to limit the impact of attacks even when the program is exploited. Make sure your system is set up to automatically download these latest updates.
Without these latest versions your system sits wide open to threats. Adobe updates - like all software updates - include the latest security patches for known exploits. This basic step is the essential base level of PDF security. Here are a few safety tips for working with PDFs, as well as other Adobe systems. Attackers have created malware that automatically recognizes which operating system a user has and downloads the appropriate version of malicious code through PDFs.īut just because PDFs are widely targeted doesn’t mean you have to live in extreme danger.
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