Adobe Flash Plug-in
In April we answered user questions. The main question was about Adobe Flash on the Mac. New vulnerabilities are constantly discovered so that’s why it’s important to keep it up to date. There is a Flash plug-in used by Safari and Mozilla Firefox (if installed). You can check whether it’s up to date by browsing to this website: http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/.
Safari does allow you to enable or disable Flash for individual websites. Normally you will be prompted whether to trust a plug-in when you visit a new page. You can also manage which websites are allowed to use particular plug-ins in Safari Preferences. Click on the Security tab and click the Website Settings… button next to the “Allow plug-ins” checkbox to manage which websites are allowed to use each plug-in.
Initially I thought Google Chrome used the same Mac plug-in that the other browsers use, but it turns out it has its own copy (https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-google-chrome.html). Chrome automatically updates itself and the built-in plug-in.
If you are using an iPad or iPhone then Flash is not supported, which makes it much safer to browse the web from those devices. Fortunately a lot of websites that use Flash on the desktop version of the website, serve up an alternate version for iOS devices. Instead of using a mouse or trackpad to manipulate the Flash game or video, you use your finger on the touchscreen. For any website you are unsure of, I recommend using an iPad or iPhone, if you have one.