RE: ATTN JD:: FLASH: Macromedia Flash makes front page of foxnews.com

[Dorian Nisinson]

	I snagged this off reuters as I couldn't track down the old posts either. I

think this should help your boss feel better.


Macromedia: Flash Secure Despite Reports of Bug


Last updated: 08 Jan 2001 20:49 GMT (Reuters)




SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Macromedia Inc. MACR.O on Monday said its own

tests have shown there is no risk that its popular Flash multimedia player

could allow a computer virus to be sent to attack the computers of Internet

users.


The popular Flash software allows digital artists and Web designers to

create short animated movies and cartoons, which can be downloaded and

viewed by Internet users.


Last week, a software engineer posted a message to a popular security Web

site, Bugtraq (www.securityfocus.com), claiming that the program could allow

a malicious program to be sent down the pipe to users' PCs.


In response to that report, Macromedia said it conducted extensive testing

of its software last week, but concluded that there is no security loophole.


A security bug in Flash could be devastating due to the software's

near-ubiquity -- some 96 percent of all personal computers accessing the

Internet have some version of Flash installed, according to Macromedia.


Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O popular Outlook E-mail program was the instrument

for the whirlwind spread of the Love Letter virus, which was estimated to

have hit 45 million computers on a single day in May.


Macromedia said a Flash movie could be created to intentionally cause the

software residing on users' PCs to crash, but that no other programs --

including viruses -- can be sent to exploit it.


"This is simply a software crash, not a security issue," said Peter

Santangeli, vice president of engineering at San Francisco-based Macromedia.


"Flash is a constrained environment by design," he said. "You'd never get

the (virus) to work."







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dorian Nisinson Design

http://www.nisinson.com

doriannisinson [dot] com (mailto:doriannisinson [dot] com)

Flash Motion Graphics

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> -----Original Message-----

>

From: ownerchinwag [dot] com [ownerchinwag [dot] com]On">mailto:ownerchinwag [dot] com]On Behalf Of stephan

> seifert

> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 2:55 PM

>

To: flasherchinwag [dot] com

> Subject: Re: ATTN JD:: FLASH: Macromedia Flash makes front page of

> foxnews.com

>

>

> hi all

> I just had a look on the Chinwag server and archives and all those posts

> from JD and don't even seem to be on there.

> maybe they were answered on a different mailing list but it would

> be helpful

> if someone could forward or repost them here since they are nowhere to be

> found.

>

> thanks again

> stephan

>

>



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