It’s no surprise that Flash Player is living its last days. For the last years, users and developers of Chrome and other web browsers stopped relying on this tool, so Adobe’s official Flash Player support ended in 2017, although the program is still available and is still used by a minimal amount of websites (Chrome allows its users to choose Flash Players if they prefer so).
However, the path of Flash Player will come to a definitive end this year, as Adobe has mentioned that soon the program will stop working in its entirety, completely closing everything related to Flash Player and stopping security support for the software.
The tentative date that Adobe mentioned is December 31, 2020. Therefore, as of January 1st the program will no longer be available through the official platforms of the company, in addition to all content related to Flash Player will be blocked; in other words, it will be completely useless.
Any user still relying on Flash Player should remove its files after the final shutdown, as Adobe is completely deleting it and no additional updates will be released, security issues could be exploited through it. Trying to download Flash Player from unofficial sites is also a bad idea, as these are probably faulty samples or programs developed for malicious purposes.
Although unlikely, it is not impossible for some websites to ask the user to have Flash Player for proper operation. If users come to be in such a situation, it is advisable to leave the website in question; if users do not yet delete Flash Player and decide to enable the website, they will be taking the risk on their own.
Nowadays almost all browsers already have Flash Player disabled, so it’s very difficult to still need it. Otherwise, users are strongly asked to prioritize their security and ignore any content on the Internet for which an outdated and COMPLETELY UNSECURE version of Flash Player is required.
Using Flash Player could become a cybersecurity issue, so it is vital that companies, experts and developers try to bring this message to all possible users because, as we know, prevention is a key element in cybersecurity.
He is a cyber security and malware researcher. He studied Computer Science and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2006. He is actively working as an cyber security investigator. He also worked for different security companies. His everyday job includes researching about new cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in enterprise security implementation.