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Apple's Snow Leopard upgrades Mac OS X, downgrades Flash

While Snow Leopard makes a number of improvements to Apple's Mac OS X machines, for those who have kept Adobe Flash up to date, installing the new operating system will reportedly downgrade the software.

According to antivirus company Sophos, Snow Leopard installs version 10.0.23.1 of Flash for Mac, a security downgrade from the most up-to-date version, 10.0.32.18. Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley said the change is made without prompting the user. He called the move "pretty bad."

"I realize how much malware is out there," he said. "But after upgrading to Snow Leopard, when I went to Adobe's Web site, what it actually told me was I had actually downgraded. I was no longer running the latest version of Adobe Flash."

As hackers have targeted Adobe's Flash player for browser-based vulnerabilities, the company has responded, like Microsoft, by releasing regular security updates for its software. Users can check what version number they're running and download updates at Adobe's Web site.

"Mac users who have been diligent enough to keep their security up-to-date do not deserve to be silently downgraded," Cluley said. "We know that hackers keep finding security holes in Adobe's code - and that's deeply concerning because it is so widely used by many Internet users, whether on Mac or PC."

In an effort to beef up security protection, Apple included limited malware protection in its latest operating system. Though the feature only scans files for two Trojans out of the box, the basic defender could be upgraded over time to protect against other potential threats.



73 Comments

al_bundy 16 Years · 1525 comments

so just upgrade? i'm running Windows 7 RTM and there are some updates for it as well like spam software updates. no one can keep up with constant point updates to software

daviblak3 16 Years · 1 comment

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider

While Snow Leopard makes a number of improvements to Apple's Mac OS X machines, for those who have kept Adobe Flash up to date, installing the new operating system will reportedly downgrade the software.

According to antivirus company Sophos, Snow Leopard installs version 10.0.23.1 of Flash for Mac, a security downgrade from the most up-to-date version, 10.0.31.18. Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley said the change is made without prompting the user. He called the move "pretty bad."

"I realize how much malware is out there," he said. "But after upgrading to Snow Leopard, when I went to Adobe's Web site, what it actually told me was I had actually downgraded. I was no longer running the latest version of Adobe Flash."

As hackers have targeted Adobe's Flash player for browser-based vulnerabilities, the company has responded, like Microsoft, by releasing regular security updates for its software. Users can check what version number they're running and download updates at Adobe's Web site.

"Mac users who have been diligent enough to keep their security up-to-date do not deserve to be silently downgraded," Cluley said. "We know that hackers keep finding security holes in Adobe's code - and that's deeply concerning because it is so widely used by many Internet users, whether on Mac or PC."

In an effort to beef up security protection, Apple included limited malware protection in its latest operating system. Though the feature only scans files for two Trojans out of the box, the basic defender could be upgraded over time to protect against other potential threats.


But you forgot the apple has sand-boxed all plugins in Safari for snow leopard so that eliminates the vulnerabilities that recent hackers have been finding in Flash

thespaz 16 Years · 71 comments

*Yawn*

Way to make a big deal over nothing. Apple's not perfect. Just download the new version and forget about it.

themoonisdown09 17 Years · 64 comments

I wonder why Snow Leopard downgrades the Flash player? What's the reason behind it? There actually could be no reason and it's just a mistake.

abrooks 21 Years · 66 comments

Surely the newer version was released after Apple sent Snow Leopard to GM and had the ROMs mastered? If that is the case what do you expect Apple to do, send you a separate disc with a Flash installer on?

Get a grip.