Senator requests U.S. government remove Adobe Flash from its websites
In case you still weren’t sure whether Adobe Flash posed a real security risk, one U.S. senator is now urging government agencies to stop using it.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has sent a letter to the top U.S. officials at three government agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and National Security Agency -- requesting they coordinate to remove Adobe Flash from government use.
SEE ALSO:ACLU petitions Amazon to stop selling surveillance technology to the governmentIn his letter, Wyden requests three major actions be taken.
The first move Wyden requests is a mandate that government agencies will no longer deploy any new Flash-based content, effective within 60 days. Next, he suggests a requirement that federal agencies remove all of its Flash-based content from its websites by August 1, 2019. Finally, Wyden would like all governmental agencies to remove Flash from its desktop computers by the same date.
Adobe officially plans to retire Flash in the next couple of years. Flash’s demise, largely bolstered by the popularity of open standards like HTML5 and its inability to work with the mobile web, has been in trouble for quite some time. Last year Adobe announced it would completely end support for Adobe Flash Media Player in 2020. As Wyden claims, Adobe Flash has "serious, largely unfixable cybersecurity issues" and he would like to nip the potential future problems in the bud.
In his writing to these three agencies, Wyden points out how the “federal government has too often failed to transition away from software that has been decommissioned." The Senator brings up Windows XP as an example. Microsoft’s end-of-life for the Windows XP version of its operating system was back in 2014. Yet U.S. government agencies are still using the retired operating system and they’re paying millions just to use them. A year after Windows XP was decommissioned, it was revealed that the U.S. Navy alone was paying Microsoft $9 million a year for premium support for still using Windows XP.
While it’s not clear just how many U.S. government sites still use Flash, one that Mashable has discovered is the National Weather Service’s website at weather.gov. Notably, the NWS’s website deploys Flash for its Enhanced Radar Image Loop.
When it comes to the web as a whole, W3Techs, a web technology survey company, found that only 4.9 percent of websites still use Flash -- a drop from 28.5 percent in 2011. Google has stated that number of Chrome users visiting a Flash website has gone from 80 percent in 2014 to under 8 percent earlier this year.
Wyden has proven to be one of the most tech savvy members of the mostly tech-impaired senate. Let's see if the officials who head up these agencies heed his completely nonpartisan Adobe Flash advice before it's too late.
Featured Video For You
These glasses are designed to stop motion sickness
TopicsPolitics
相关文章
- 雅州利剑集中攻坚执行大会战专项行动启动走进位于青衣江畔雨城区三雅路6号的雅安市中级人民法院,办公环境窗明几净,法院干警热情服务……一缕缕文明新风扑面而来。文明的厚度,决定发展的高度。2018年,获“四2024-09-23
House Republicans passed Senate’s budget to begin tax reform process.
House Republicans barely passed their Senate counterparts’ budget blueprint Thursday afternoon in a2024-09-23N. Korea may resort to unofficial markets amid virus
A picture of the Friendship Bridge linking North Korea and China (Yonhap)North Korea's fiscal status2024-09-23- 产业主导、特色融合,惠东“百千万工程”纵向帮扶开新局_南方+_南方plus惠州市惠东县属省24个重点老区苏区县之一,是典型的沿海山区县,山海资源禀赋优越,也是广东区域发展不平衡的“县级缩影”。为破题区2024-09-23
- 近日,市委政法委会同市法院、市检察院、市公安局、市司法局,出台《全市政法系统“营造法治化营商环境提升年”责任分工方案》,全市政法系统将围绕全市中心工作,聚焦高质量发展主线,立足政法职能职责,进一步发挥2024-09-23
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade dressed up as his own book for Halloween.
Fox News hosts resemble President Trump, not to mention cartoon character Jay Sherman, in their zeal2024-09-23
最新评论