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Online Threat Alerts (OTA)

An anti-cybercrime community alerting you to scams and frauds.

Adobe Flash Player Malicious Updates, Downloads, Upgrades or Installations

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Jun. 22, 2013 2013-06-22T10:24:46-05:00
Feb. 17, 2017 2017-02-17T05:43:31-05:00

Online Threat Alerts (OTA)

Adobe Flash Player Malicious Updates, Downloads, Upgrades or Installations

Online users, if you are asked to update, download, upgrade, or install the Adobe Flash Player on your computer while browsing the internet, please do not install it from the website that you are browsing. There are malicious websites or advertisements that have been created by cybercriminals to trick online users into downloading and installing malicious computer programs, viruses, spyware and other malware, disguised as the Adobe Flash Player, by falsely claiming that online users current Adobe Flash Player is out of date.

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Online users, if the Adobe Flash Player web browser plug-in is not installed on your computers, only download it from the following website: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. And, if you have downloaded and installed the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player from the legitimate Flash Player website and you are still being asked to install it, the website that you are on is either malicious or there is a malicious advertisement displaying the fake Adobe Flash Player message.

Because most persons are always anxious to watch a video online, they will quickly click on a link and install any software in order to do so. But, doing so is very dangerous because you can download a malicious program, which will spy on you, steal your personal information, credit card information, or online accounts user name and password.

Samples of Malicious Adobe Flash Player Update Message

Latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to encode and/or decode (Play) audio files in high quality. - Click here to update for latest version.

Adobe Flash Player Update

“Adobe Flash Player" is out of date! The version of “Adobe Flash Player" on your system does not include the latest security updates and has been blocked. To continue using “Adobe Flash Player", download an updated

Please install Flash Player HD to continue

Flash player: Incorrect version

You need to install new version of Adobe

This content requires update your Player. Would you like to intall it now?

A flash Player Update is Required to view this content

All of the messages above are deceptive Flash media player updates, which have been created by cybercriminals to trick online users into downloading and infecting their computers with viruses, spyware and other malware. This is why online users must only download the Adobe Flash Player from this website: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/.

For information about the dangers of downloading software to watch movies or videos online, please click here.

Check the comment section below for additional information, share what you know, or ask a question about this article by leaving a comment below. And, to quickly find answers to your questions, use our search engine. Search

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Comments, Answers, Reviews or Questions

To protect your privacy, please remove sensitive or identifiable information from your comments, questions, or reviews. Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic.

Comments (9)

May. 11, 2017 at 4:52 AM by an anonymous user from: Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

To continue playing candy crush saga I have been asked to upgrade adobe flash player is it necessary.

May. 11, 2017 at 5:59 AM by info

No. It is a trick to get you to install malware on your device or computer.

Feb. 17, 2017 at 8:07 PM by Inspireme247 from: Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Thank you for all your brilliant articles on keeping us all safe. I really appreciate it and I'm sure everyone else does as well.

Take care.

Jun. 25, 2014 at 2:30 PM by an anonymous user from: Bartlesville, Oklahoma, United States

How do I keep it from coming up? It keeps doing it, and I don't know how to stop it. Thank you.

Jun. 25, 2014 at 3:15 PM by info

These links will pop-up based on the website that you visit. And, the only the way to stop the pop-ups, is to stop visiting those websites. These links will show up as popup advertisements that the website you are visiting use to generate revenue.

But, if you think the pop-ups are not caused by some of the websites that you visit, <a href="/article/2013/1/13/adwcleaner-delete-adware-toolbars-potentially-unwanted-programs-browser-hijackers/">please click here</a>, to use an application to clean your computer.

Mar. 3, 2014 at 10:38 PM by an anonymous user from: Santo Domingo, Nacional, Dominican Republic

That is true! I'm struggling to install adobe flash player and doing so I just run into this three websites. I finished installing, NOTHING AFTER AN HOUR OR SO.

Jul. 18, 2013 at 10:40 AM by info

Adobe Flash Player, Reader and Java have an automatic update feature that will update the same software with your permission, if there is an update, after your computer boots. This is legitimate. If a message pops up on your computer after it boots, asking you to do some form of update, more that likely it is legitimate. I say this because, if the program that displayed the message was malicious, it would have not prompted or asked your permission to download anything that it needed. Instead, it would have silently downloaded and installed what it needed. It is strongly recommended that you download updates and other software from the software makers' website only. This is because it is hard to trust files uploaded to other websites. But, to be on the safe side, do a full scan of your computer with the anti-virus software installed on your computer. Or, you can use Bit Defender's Free online scanner to scan your computer. <a href="http://quickscan.bitdefender.com/" target="_blank">Click here to scan your computer with Bit Defender</a> You may also use the following programs to clean your browser of Potentially Unwanted Programs: <a href="/article/2013/6/1/avast-browser-cleanup-delete-adware-toolbars-potentially-unwanted-programs-and-browser-hijackers/" target="_blank">Avast Browser Cleanup</a> <a href="/article/2013/1/13/adwcleaner-delete-adware-toolbars-potentially-unwanted-programs-browser-hijackers/" target="_blank">AdwCleaner</a>

Mar. 2, 2014 at 5:38 PM by an anonymous user from: South Lake Tahoe, California, United States

I knew in what you were going to say and, but when there are videos on FB a person would like to see, how do we stop these from being posted or how to get around them to see the videos. I don't think the people on line know this is happening, how do we stop it.

Jul. 18, 2013 at 9:27 AM by an anonymous user from: Vancouver, Washington, United States

Your article is very helpful in pointing to the danger of fraudulent "You need to update Flash" messages with links that pop up when browsing the web. What about similar messages that appear when first booting up the computer, before logging on to a browser? I unthinkingly clicked on such a message (it looked about like one of the examples above), and I am quite sure it was the source of subsquent malware problems that hijacked my search engine and necessitated a scrubbing and reinstallation of everything on my hard drive. Not until later did I realize that the pop-up message never mentioned Adobe, just "your Flash Player." That should have been a tip-off. Here is my question: Is there anything to prevent one of these phishing Flash scams from perfectly mimicking a legitimate "Update Abodbe Flash Player" messages that appears when I first boot up? Is it safe to respond to any such appear-on-bootup messages, whether related to Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, or Java updates? Is it only safe to go to the company producer's website and initiate the download from there?

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