Adobe Systems Hacked, 2.9 Million Customers Affected

LongIsland.com

One of the world’s largest software companies was the target of two hacking attempts targeting both customer and company information.

Print Email

San Jose, CA – October 3, 2013 – Adobe Systems, Inc., the software giant behind products and formats including Photoshop, PDF, Illustrator, Acrobat, Shockwave Flash, Flash Video, and much more announced last week that it has been hacked. Two separate attacks, which the company believes may be related, obtained information regarding customer data and source code for various Adobe programs.

“Cyber attacks are one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today. Given the profile and widespread use of many of our products, Adobe has attracted increasing attention from cyber attackers,” said Brad Arkin, Chief Security Officer.

An internal investigation indicates that 2.9 million customers were impacted by the attack, and a great deal of information was obtained by the culprits. Customer names, credit/debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other data pertinent to customer orders, as well as Adobe customer IDs and passwords were all taken. Fortunately, it appears at this time that all of the passwords and credit/debit numbers were encrypted, which will make it difficult for the hackers to make use of that information.

As a precaution, Adobe is sending e-mails to all impacted clients notifying them that they will need to reset their passwords immediately. The company is also advising customers to change their passwords on any other websites where the same combination of username and password has been used. Federal law enforcement has been notified and is insisting in the investigation.

Banks used to process payments for Adobe have also been alerted to the situation, and the company is in the process of contacting customers whose credit card information may be compromised. For those at risk of credit or debit theft, the software corporation is offering to foot the bill for a year’s enrollment in a credit protection and monitoring service.

“We value the trust of our customers,” said Arkin. “We will work aggressively to prevent these types of events from occurring in the future. Again, we deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause you.”

[Source: Adobe]