Flash player blocked on Firefox over security risk

Mozillahas "temporarily"blocked the Flash multimedia player on its Firefox browser following a security alert from Flash'smaker,Adobe Systems.

The Flash Player Plugin was added to the list of Firefox'sblocked add-onsMonday and Mozilla followed up with a Twitter post Tuesday morning.

The move to block Flash comes after security weaknesses in the browseradd-on was revealed in documents stolen from the Italian security company Hacking Team.

One of Hacking Team's tools stolen in the hack isaimed at taking advantage of a previously unknown bug in Flash to hijack targeted computers.

• Hacking Team surveillance software firm hacked

While Adobe Systems said last week that it would patch the security flaw, the Firefox block includes even the most recent version of the plugin.

Alex Stamos, the new head of security at Facebook, called for the end of the animation software in a tweeton Sunday.

Elsewhere on Twitter, many pointed out thatthe iPhonewas released withoutFlash support and thatSteve Jobs wrote that "Flash falls short" for browsers in the mobile era.

Plugins like Adobe Flash can be disabled or uninstalled in the "add-ons" orpluginssettings of your browser.