You can download the patches from the Adobe Security bulletin which has all the links you need to update Adobe Reader and Acrobat for all Windows, Mac and UNIX platforms.

In addition, Adobe will also start beta testing its background updater tool called Adobe Reader/Acrobat Updater, an automatic update feature developed and silently downloaded onto a select number of computers as a part of a previous patch that fixed 29 vulnerabilities.  If successful, it’ll be offered as a default option in the next security update scheduled for April 13^th.

PDF Files Are A Likely Suspect

In related news, you may have heard that Google’s network had been attacked by hackers situated in China. Security analysts soon learned that they were dealing with more than just an ordinary hack. They were possibly dealing with government-led cyber attacks leaving both the US and China in a sticky political situation.

The attacks were not only targeted at Google, but at around 30 other major tech and business companies as well—including Adobe. The security breach was discovered just before the PDF innovators finally released the anticipated security patches for Adobe Reader and Acrobat.  

Not surprisingly, with the Adobe flagship products still free game for launching targeted attacks over the holidays, and PDF files being commonly used in professional offices, researchers suspected that infected PDFs were the culprit.

However, researchers found that the exploits were due to an unpatched IE 6 flaw which opened up business networks and sensitive information to hackers. Thus, while on the note of of updating your PDF software, you might want to take another precaution and update your IE browser as well.