If you regularly use products like Photoshop or Premier, your information may now be in the hands of cyber criminals. Adobe, creator of both popular software applications, said late last week it discovered a cyber attack that may have compromised the information of 2.9 million customers.
Writing on the official Adobe Featured Blogs, Brad Arkin, Chief Security Officer for the company writes:
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. Very recently, Adobe’s security team discovered sophisticated attacks on our network, involving the illegal access of customer information as well as source code for numerous Adobe products. We believe these attacks may be related.
Arkin writes cyber criminals were able to access “customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders.”
On the bright side, Adobe doesn’t believe cyber attackers removed any decrypted credit or debit card numbers, so they may not be able to easily access customers’ bank accounts.
Adobe also believes hackers accessed customer IDs and encrypted passwords for Adobe products. So, just to play it safe, the company is contacting affected customers to have them change their passwords.
The company also recommends customers change passwords on any other accounts where they might have used the same or similar character combinations. Adobe has also notified banks that regularly process companny payments and is contacting customers whose credit or debit card information may have been compromised.
The company is also giving customers affected the option to join a complimentary credit monitoring service where it’s available.
Customers Are Usually the Target
With all due respect to Adobe’s products, customers are often the target of cyber attacks. Three other companies — Dun & Bradstreet, Hire Right/Krebs and NexisLexis — were also targeted recently. And here too customer information including social security numbers, birth records and credit and background reports were the apparent objective.
You don’t need to be a tech giant to be the target of a cyber attack either. Cyber attacks on small business are also increasing. The objective is often the personal information of your customers.
It’s important to take steps to protect your business and the information customers entrust to you.
Hacked Photo via Shutterstock
Indeed, cyber attack is an unfortunate reality of doing business online.
However, Shawn is right – it’s a business’ responsibility to take care of customers’ data – whether you have 10, 10,000 or 1,000,000 customers. Indeed, a business size doesn’t matter, really.
Having 3 million customers doesn’t mean that being a target and get the security compromised is “pardonable.”
Remember: “In great power lies great responsibility” – Voltaire
Shawn Hessinger
Hi Ivan,
It certainly shouldn’t matter, but the thing to remember is that small businesses can sometimes be much more easily damaged by such situations. They often have fewer customers and sometimes less brand recognition to keep customers coming back once trust has been eroded.
ed pierce
This has been happening so much lately, it’s really starting to concern me as the hacking is coming closer to home now.
Shawn Hessinger
Hi Ed,
Of course, just about anyone who has made an online payment to any company is vulnerable if that company is hacked. And for small businesses who do business with these companies, if your passwords to other accounts are similar to those you gave to a third party vendor who was hacked, it could put your customers and clients at risk as well.
I can not believe how such a large company, that is focused so much in the online space, can have such a severe lapse in security. Just blows my mind.
Aira Bongco
Same here. Adobe’s products are everywhere. I literally don’t know anyone who does not own at least one of their products. And for their database to be accessed by hackers is downright scary.
Shawn Hessinger
Hi Robert,
Alas, as we’ve seen, they aren’t the first. And, despite the rising number of small businesses hacked, these guys do make very visible targets.
I use Photoshop now and then in my line of work and hope this hacking won’t happen again. Credit card details are just like your bank account data.