Specifically, Adobe said it will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020 and encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to the more modern open formats.Īs for the browsers, Microsoft said by the end of 2020, it will remove the ability to run Adobe Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer across all supported versions of Microsoft Windows, and users will no longer have any ability to enable or run Flash. “Many sys admins will be breathing a sigh of relief, as for years the Flash Player plugin was a ripe target for bug hunters, requiring regular updates,” said NCSC device security researcher Josh D. So come January 1, if you’re still running Flash, it is unlikely your laptop is going to explode, whether you’re hosting or visiting Flash, and at worst, the website or frame will not load. According to an NCSC advisory, users will likely not even notice when Flash disappears, as long as they are using a modern browser receiving regular updates. In particular, vulnerabilities in Flash have allowed attackers to compromise targets through adverts and distribute ransomware in just two instances. It’s fairly easy to see why – this updates page shows 292 fixes in the last 14 years. In fact, web developers have had over two years to prepare for the end of support, as it was announced in July 2017 by Adobe that the Flash Player would no longer be supported after December 2020. These options have come to replace it in order to provide a better online experience than the text only options which preceded its use. Over the years it has faced numerous security fixes and faced the challenge of newer options such as HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly. It’s not like this has come as a surprise though. This veteran concept of rich internet content is facing its retirement on New Years’ Eve, and come January 1 2021, there will be no more support for it. As we enter December, we also enter the last month of support for Adobe’s Flash software.