Adobe's popular programs — Acrobat, Flash Player, Reader and Shockwave Player — top the list of the most vulnerable applications in 2009, according to a report released Wednesday by security firm Bit9. All four applications had vulnerabilities rated "high," which mean hackers could have executed arbitrary code. Apple QuickTime, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, RealPlayer, Sun Java and Trillian followed on the list, created from stats in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) vulnerability database. All apps on the list rely on the end-user, not an IT administrator, to patch. — DK