![\"pdf](\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2013\/04\/05113834\/pdf_blog_title.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPDFs, in particular, are hugely popular and are used across operating systems, and it\u2019s that cross-platform functionality that appeals so much to attackers, who in recent years have created malware that automatically recognizes which operating system a user has, then downloads the appropriate version of its malicious code.<\/p>\n
But just because PDFs are widely targeted doesn\u2019t mean you have to live in extreme danger. Here are a few safety tips for working with PDFs, as well as other Adobe systems.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Install software updates. <\/strong>This basic step is the essential base level of PDF security. Adobe updates \u2014 like all software updates \u2014 include the latest security patches for known exploits. Without these latest versions your system sits wide open to threats. Make sure your system is set up to automatically download these latest updates.<\/li>\n
- Safe modes.<\/strong> Adobe is, of course, well aware of the vulnerabilities of its platform and offers two safe modes<\/span><\/a><\/span> in which Reader can be operated to limit the impact of attacks even when the program is exploited. The first is Protected View<\/strong>, a read-only mode that blocks the file executions until the user verifies them to be legitimate. Users can enable Protected View by going to \u2018Edit,\u2019 then \u2018Preferences\u2019 and selecting \u2018Security (Enhanced).\u2019 The second is Protected Mode,<\/strong> a sandbox environment<\/span><\/a><\/span> designed to contain the execution of any suspicious script but that has, unsurprisingly, already been exploited \u2014 and subsequently patched \u2014 since its release in late 2012, as detailed by Kaspersky Threatpost<\/span><\/a><\/span> writer Michael Mimoso. 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\u2019t be trusted entirely.<\/li>\n
- Alternative readers.<\/strong> Adobe Reader is what most people use to read PDFs, but it\u2019s not the only PDF reader out there. Foxit Reader, Sumatra PDF and Nitro PDF Reader are three popular and well-reviewed alternatives<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and Firefox rolled out a native PDF reader earlier this year. Of course, all PDF readers are susceptible to exploits \u2014 and while there\u2019s not a lot of information about the security of Firefox\u2019s reader, initial reviews<\/span><\/a><\/span> seem positive \u2014 but the very fact that these programs are used far less than Adobe Reader means that they maintain a much lower profile with attackers.<\/li>\n
- Use an antivirus system. <\/strong>The exploitability of PDFs is one of the many reasons users should always have a robust protection like Kaspersky PURE 3.0<\/span><\/a> <\/span>or Kasperksy Internet Security 2013<\/span><\/a><\/span>. These programs should be maintained and updated regularly \u2014 just as you should maintain and update Adobe and all other software programs \u2014\u00a0with their latest versions that include the latest security measures.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adobe\u2019s suite of software offerings is one of the most popular programs in the world \u2014 which is precisely why it is also one of the most targeted and exploited<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":1727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[389,390,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-1725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tips","8":"tag-adobe","9":"tag-pdf","10":"tag-security-2"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"en-ae","url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"en-in","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.in\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"ja","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.co.jp\/adobe-pdfs-security\/735\/"},{"hreflang":"en-au","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"},{"hreflang":"en-za","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/blog\/adobe-pdfs-security\/1725\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/adobe\/","name":"Adobe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15519,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions\/15519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Safe modes.<\/strong> Adobe is, of course, well aware of the vulnerabilities of its platform and offers two safe modes<\/span><\/a><\/span> in which Reader can be operated to limit the impact of attacks even when the program is exploited. The first is Protected View<\/strong>, a read-only mode that blocks the file executions until the user verifies them to be legitimate. Users can enable Protected View by going to \u2018Edit,\u2019 then \u2018Preferences\u2019 and selecting \u2018Security (Enhanced).\u2019 The second is Protected Mode,<\/strong> a sandbox environment<\/span><\/a><\/span> designed to contain the execution of any suspicious script but that has, unsurprisingly, already been exploited \u2014 and subsequently patched \u2014 since its release in late 2012, as detailed by Kaspersky Threatpost<\/span><\/a><\/span> writer Michael Mimoso. 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\u2019t be trusted entirely.<\/li>\n