Hackers hone in on PDFs

Network security teams have warned businesses to be on the lookout for a number of file-based attacks preying on exploits in Adobe's Acrobat file format PDF.

The warnings came as a number of rootkits were found circulating in the wild which would allow attackers to breach network security by prompting users to download files which will destabilize systems.

Researchers at the US Computer Emergency Response Team, warned that the scope of the network security attacks may be broadened by the widespread existence of the documents among consumer and business circles and the perception that they are a fairly stable file format. "The PDF is one of the file formats of choice commonly used in today's enterprises, since it is widely deployed across different operating systems," the group explained.