Dont get surprised after the next update of the PDF reader from Adobe, you start getting message saying that the PDF document is in protected mode similar to what have in Microsoft Office 2010 ( Learn More about Office Protected View ) and in Chrome Browser.
Adobe announced on their official security blog that they are working with Microsoft and Chrome Team to get this sandboxing feature into PDF documents bringing more security to the documents which are downloaded from internet or any untrrusted network.
With Adobe Reader Protected Mode enabled (it will be by default), all operations required by Adobe Reader to display the PDF file to the user are run in a very restricted manner inside a confined environment, the “sandbox.” Should Adobe Reader need to perform an action that is not permitted in the sandbox environment, such as writing to the user’s temporary folder or launching an attachment inside a PDF file using an external application (e.g. Microsoft Word), those requests are funneled through a “broker process,” which has a strict set of policies for what is allowed and disallowed to prevent access to dangerous functionality.
The initial release of Adobe Reader Protected Mode will be the first phase in the implementation of the sandboxing technology. This first release will sandbox all “write” calls on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003. This will mitigate the risk of exploits seeking to install malware on the user’s computer or otherwise change the computer’s file system or registry. In future releases of Adobe Reader, we plan to extend the sandbox to include read-only activities to protect against attackers seeking to read sensitive information on the user’s computer
I am also assuming that we also get an option to where we can force open PDF Files in protected mode exactly what we have in Office 2010. Read more on the Adobe’s Security Post.
