Adobe vulnerability comes to light

Flaw is unexploited as yet

A security flaw has been found in older versions of the Adobe acrobat reader program.

So far there is no evidence that the bug is being exploited, but experts say criminals could use links to PDF files stored on any web site to attack vulnerable Windows PCs.

'The ease [with] which this weakness can be exploited is breathtaking,' said Symantec security researcher Hon Lau.

Information about the flaw in the Adobe reader software was first revealed at the annual conference of a German hacker group called the Chaos Computer Club.

Since then security researchers have investigated and found that it could also be used to view files on the hard drive of a vulnerable PC.

No cyber criminals are actively exploiting the Adobe Reader flaw but code to do so has been produced. Initially it was thought that only users of the Firefox web browser were at risk but now it is known that Internet Explorer users are vulnerable too.

Experts say that upgrading to version 8 of the Adobe Reader software removes the risk of falling victim to the flaw.

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