Google to End Support for Flash in Chrome This Year

By Jenn Loro - 18 May '16 11:33AM

Silicon Valley titan Google is set to end its full web support for Adobe's Flash software on Chrome by this year's end following the decision of other browser-makers to phase it out. However, the internet giant promises to keep it active on default in 10 other sites including Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, and Facebook. On all others, HTML5 shall be the default software to run videos.

"Later this year we plan to change how Chromium hints to websites about the presence of Flash Player...If a site offers an HTML5 experience, this change will make that the primary experience," Google said in an official blog statement as quoted by Business Standard.

"We will continue to ship Flash Player with Chrome, and if a site truly requires Flash, a prompt will appear at the top of the page when the user first visits that site, giving them the option of allowing it to run for that site."

Before Google's announcement on the said change, cybersecurity firm Fireeye has noticed the latest security hole in the software which made Flash one of the most vulnerable programs heavily exploited by cyberthieves.

As reported by BBC News, Flash has been a favorite route to install malicious files embedded in Microsoft office documents. Since the discovery of the bug, Adobe has already rolled out three patches in three months to stop cybercriminals on hacking unsuspecting victims' computers using the software.

As a result of a stream of vulnerabilities popping out quite often over the years, Google gradually de-emphasized Flash's relevance on its Chrome browser. Since September last year, Chrome 45 started pausing un-important Flash content like ads and animations not linked to the webpage's content, VentureBeat reported.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Google take Flash off its browser completely. The software remains and will still run if and only when people give it a green signal to run on their browser. By disabling Flash, Google can give its users certain degree of protection from unwarranted and extremely malicious programs. Also, the move will also force web developers to migrate to HTML5 to keep people glued to their web sites.