However, if it just pops up on your screen there’s a real possibility that your system is already infected with malware and the malware is responsible for displaying the fake notice. If a fake Flash Update notice arrives in your email you can simply delete it and forget about it (assuming you don’t click any links or buttons contained within it!).

You should avoid clicking any links or buttons in these messages because that click will almost certainly result in malware being downloaded onto your machine. That means any update notices for Flash are obviously fraudulent. If you see one of these notices (or something similar) pop up on your screen or arrive in an email you can rest assured that it’s a scam.Īgain, Flash Player is now officially dead and Adobe is no longer releasing updates for it.

These fake update notices are being distributed in many forms, but here are a couple of screenshots that show the two you’re most likely to be targeted with: One would think this would put a stop to scammers trying to use Flash to scam potential victims, right? Well, unfortunately that isn’t the case.Ī new round of Flash-related scams is making the rounds as we speak, and as was usually the case these scams are arriving in the form of fake “Flash Update” notices. You can no longer get it from Adobe, and if it’s still on your computer you can’t use it. Over the years Adobe released countless updates to patch Flash’s security holes as they were discovered, but the hackers always seemed to find new holes to exploit soon after each update was released.Īdobe finally put Flash in its coffin on Decemby officially ending support for it, and on Januthey covered up the grave by blocking any content from running in existing Flash Players. In fact, if you had a Windows PC or a Mac you probably used Flash in one way or another every time you turned your computer on.īut there was a big problem with using Flash: The Flash platform itself was extremely insecure, and that made it a favorite tool of hackers as well as legitimate programmers. Adobe Flash was one of the world’s most widely used computer and web-based tools for decades.

Adobe flash player virus update