Adobe said today that it would patch a critical Reader vulnerability on Thursday.

Adobe has revealed that it will strengthen the security controls in the Adobe Reader application by adding sandboxing in the next release. With malicious attacks targeting Adobe products more frequently, it is definitely a move in the right direction, but there are also more secure PDF reader alternatives you can start using today.

Adobe provides its beleaguered PDF reader with sandbox technology to thwart exploits. "This is coming out in the next major release", reveals Brad Arkin, head of security at Adobe, to Webwereld.

An Adobe patch for a well-publicized bug in the company's Reader PDF software doesn't fix the vulnerability, the security researcher who uncovered the flaw confirmed.

Adobe late Friday warned that attackers are exploiting a critical vulnerability in the company's most widely-used software: Flash Player and Adobe Reader.

Adobe Systems is considering patching its applications more frequently after moving to a quarterly patching schedule for its Acrobat and Reader programs last year.

Foxit Software, the developer of a rival PDF viewer to Adobe's vulnerability-plagued Reader, released an update today that blocks some attacks with a "safe mode" that's switched on by default.

Several security companies today warned of a major malware campaign that tries to dupe users into opening rigged PDFs that exploit an unpatched design flaw in the format.