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Adobe Download Manager Installing Software Without Consent

Posted by timothy on from the plus-one-invitation dept.

"Not all is worth cheering about as Adobe turns 20," writes reader adeelarshad82, who excerpts from a story at PC Magazine's Security Watch: "Researcher Aviv Raff has found a problem in ADM (Adobe Download Manager) and the method through which it is delivered from adobe.com. The net effect of the problem is that a user can be tricked into downloading and installing software using ADM without actual consent. Tonight Adobe acknowledged the report and said they were working on the issue with Raff and NOS Microsystems, the company that wrote ADM."

2 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Bonjour by Icegryphon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't see how this is off topic. Unless you are some Mac/iTunes Fanboy.
    When you install a piece of software you should be warned of hitchhikers and be given the option to not install.
    Bonjour is packaged with a few pieces of useless trash now.

  2. Adobe also uses Akamai Download Manager by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's two strikes now for Adobe. As TFA says, Adobe also uses the Akamai Download Manager for downloads from the Adobe Store. This thing installs itself and runs *forever*, not just for the download you paid for in the store.

    It has a P2P mode where client machines (that's *you*, sucker) distribute the downloaded software using your bandwidth in the background. Is there an icon in the taskbar letting you know? Nope, it runs silent and deep (it does show up as Akamai something-or-other in Process Explorer).

    It's like running BitTorrent and donating your bandwidth to Akamai and their friends. Except not on purpose.

    But hey, you probably clicked through a EULA that you didn't read, so it's all on you right?