This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24392819
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Adobe in source code and customer data security breach | |
(about 14 hours later) | |
Adobe has confirmed that 2.9 million customers have had private information stolen during a "sophisticated" cyber attack on its website. | |
The attackers accessed encrypted customer passwords and payment card numbers, the company said. | |
But it does not believe decrypted debit or credit card data was removed. | |
Adobe also revealed that it was investigating the "illegal access" of source code for numerous products, including Adobe Acrobat and ColdFusion. | |
"We deeply regret that this incident occurred," said Brad Arkin, Adobe's chief security officer. | |
"Based on our findings to date, we are not aware of any specific increased risk to customers as a result of this incident," he said. | |
But Chester Wisniewski, senior adviser at internet security company Sophos, told the BBC: "Access to the source code could be very serious. | |
"Billions of computers around the world use Adobe software, so if hackers manage to embed malicious code in official-looking software updates they could potentially take control of millions of machines. | |
"This is on the same level as a Microsoft security breach," he added. | |
Adobe said it had been helped in its investigation by internet security journalist Brian Krebs and security expert Alex Holden. | |
The two discovered a 40GB cache of Adobe source code while investigating attacks on three US data providers, Dun & Bradstreet, Kroll Background America, and LexisNexis. | |
Mr Krebs said the Adobe code was on a server he believed the hackers used. | |
Compromised | |
Adobe said that it is resetting passwords for the customer accounts it believes were compromised, and that those customers will get an email alerting them to the change. | |
It is also recommending that, as a precaution, customers affected change their passwords and user information for other websites for which they used the same ID. | |
For those customers whose debit or credit card information is suspected of being accessed, Adobe is offering a complimentary one-year subscription to a credit-monitoring programme. | |
Finally, the company said it had notified law enforcement officials and is working to identify the hackers. |