Why is Java such a Security Risk?

Why is Java such a security risk?

Java is open source, essentially, with a very open architecture.

They say you should keep your mind open, but not so open that your brain falls out. Is that kind of openness such a good idea?

The open architecture is part of why Java runs on nearly every device and operating system.

That makes it a perfect target for hackers, too. Find a Java exploit, and you can infect everything from a Windows machine to an iPad to an Ubuntu system.

Who'd want to infect an Ubuntu system? Those things are only used by system admins and would-be hackers, so that's the last thing to bother infecting.

But the fact that infecting Java makes it able to infect everything makes it a perfect target for hackers.

And because Java has to be so open, every bug fix seems to open another path that it could enter.

Yet I've heard how Java has built in security.

Data security, maybe, but it fails at a lot of other types.

Is Java's multimedia support part of the problem?

I can't say that, though Adobe uses a similar model and it has to be updated nearly as often security as Java does.

And yet it is widely used.

Java is widely used because there is such a large code library, all those modules available for download and threading together.

Does the threading together add security holes?

It might. But there is no guarantee that the code modules you download to avoid writing your own code doesn't have a security hole in it.

And Java updates don't solve that.

Java updates to the version on your computer don't alter the code in a Java applet running on someone else's website or game you downloaded.

And there are all those code modules.