With all the Internet attacks that exploit Adobe Acrobat Reader people should switch to using an alternative PDF reader, a security expert said at the RSA security conference on Tuesday.

Of the targeted attacks so far this year, more than 47 percent of them exploit holes in Acrobat Reader while six vulnerabilities have been discovered that target the program, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of security firm F-Secure, said in a briefing with journalists.

Just last month, Adobe issued a fix for an Acrobat Reader hole that attackers had been exploiting for months, after issuing a patch for a critical vulnerability in Flash player the month before.

In 2008, the favored targeted attack vector was Microsoft Word, which had 15 known vulnerabilities (compared to Acrobat Reader’s 19) and which represented 34.5 percent of the attacks (compared to 28.6 percent for Acrobat Reader), he said.

Top-level executives, defense contractors, and other people who have access to specific sensitive corporate or government information are subject to targeted attacks where an attacker sends a file that has malicious code embedded in it. Once the file is opened, the computer is infected typically with a back door that then steals data.

PDF and Flash browser plug-ins are also used in attacks known as “drive-by downloads” in which malware is surreptitiously downloaded onto a computer while the user is surfing the Web. The number of PDF files used in attacks rose from 128 between January 1 and April 16 last year to more than 2,300 in that same time period during this year, said Hypponen.

Adobe should make security a priority, he said.

Adobe “has a lot to learn from, of all places, Microsoft,” which offers regular security patches on a monthly basis as part of Patch Tuesday, Hypponen said.

Part of the problem is people don’t expect that Acrobat Reader upgrades necessarily contain important security patches like they do with Microsoft software, he said.

Hypponen did not recommend a PDF reader, but said Acrobat Reader alternatives are listed on the PDFReaders.org Web site.

Article Credits to http://news.cnet.com

NEW YORK – Information technology company Oracle Corp. said Monday it is buying Sun Microsystems Inc. in a cash deal the company valued at $7.4 billion after IBM abandoned its bid to buy the networking equipment maker.

Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle will buy Sun shares for $9.50 each in cash. The price represents a 42 percent premium to Sun’s Friday closing stock price of $6.69. Net of Sun’s cash and debt, the transaction is valued at $5.6 billion, Oracle said.

IBM had offered to buy Sun for $9.40 per share, but acquisition talks fell apart earlier this month. Sun balked at the price and canceled IBM’s exclusive negotiating rights, leading IBM to withdraw its offer.

Oracle expects the purchase to add at least 15 cents per share to its adjusted earnings in the first year after the deal closes. The company estimated Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun will contribute more than $1.5 billion to Oracle’s adjusted profit in the first year and more than $2 billion in the second year.

Sun, which invented the Java programming language used to develop applications for Web sites and mobile phones, has been reluctant to sacrifice its independence, even as it reports big losses. Despite billions in sales — $13.3 billion over the last four quarters — the company has not been able to turn a consistent profit, losing $1.9 billion in the same period.

Analysts have long said the company can not stand on its own and many were skeptical the company would be able to find another buyer after talks with IBM broke down.

The IBM talks may have been derailed by antitrust issues since the two companies overlap in several areas. In tape-based data storage, for example, together IBM and Sun would hold 52 percent of a $3.1 billion market.

The companies had been working out the terms of a commitment from IBM that it would see the deal through even if antitrust regulators raised objections.

The deal with Oracle may not be plagued by the same antitrust issues, since there is significantly less overlap between the two companies. Still, Oracle would be able to use Sun’s products to enhance its own software systems.

Oracle’s main business is database software. Sun’s Solaris operating system is the leading platform for that software. The company also makes “middleware,” which allows business computing applications to work together. Oracle’s middleware is built on Sun’s Java language and software.

The transaction has been approved by Sun’s board of directors. Oracle expects to close the deal this summer.

Shares of Sun jumped $2.46, or 36.8 percent, to $9.15 in premarket activity while shares of Oracle fell 68 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $18.38.

Article credits to http://news.yahoo.com