Firefox, the popular browser from Mozilla, used by millions worldwide, has blocked Flash. Flash is a well-known plug-in enabling online graphics, browser games and animation. A message is displayed now, saying that Flash is vulnerable and that Mozilla reserves the right to block any software or add-on on its Firefox browser that 'seriously compromises Firefox security'.
This temporary ban for the Flash plug-in on Firefox will remain in place as long as Flash supports any version of the add-on with publicly known security problems. The Flash plug-in belongs to Adobe, and a team of developers are currently working on a fix. What all this means for the users? If anyone really wants to run Flash in in order to use Flash based tools or to view videos, they can still choose to do so.
The security warning from Mozilla doesn’t mean that a user cannot ignore it all together and still install or continue to run the Flash plug-in on Firefox. What’s worse for Flash is the fact that Mozilla is also advocating for stopping using Flash web standard. And they might succeed, since the temporary ban on Flash on Firefox browser comes right after another prominent call for Flash’s burial.
Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief information security officer, declared on Twitter not long ago that in order to convince developers to move quickly off the old standard, he wants a deadline settled by Adobe to kill Flash once and for all. His call could accelerate Flash’s demise. Even if it is not over yet for Flash, this might be the beginning of the end. Let’s see from where it comes all the Flash hate.
The recent news made by the Hacking Team might not be stranger to this. They exploited a security vulnerability in Flash and they are not the only ones. The recent stream of vulnerabilities in Flash has drawn from all sides new criticism of the Adobe software.
The popular browser plug-in and web standard has been used for years across the interactive graphics, Web in videos, and advertisements. But Flash seems not adapting well to the times. For years already, many online security experts have raised alarms about Flash’s security vulnerabilities that are easy to exploit by hackers in order to gain control of others' computers.
The Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs was actually one of the most prominent Flash-haters. Back in April 2010, he wrote an extended critique of the Flash technology. Among other things, Job said that Flash was inefficient, insecure, and he not going to let Flash come anywhere near his mobile devices. Support for Flash has steadily eroded since then. Particularly as mobile devices have gained popularity, the top Internet content providers in the world have taken steps to drop the older standard.
Extended support for HTML5 and other formats pushed the Flash standard in the corner. Earlier this year, for example, YouTube moved off Flash as well. And even Adobe itself announced that the software developer company will stop creating Flash for mobile devices.
