Hackers steal 2.9 million Adobe customers' info, Adobe source code

Hackers have broken into Adobe’s network and stolen information on 2.9 million Adobe customers - including names and encrypted credit card numbers - as well as source code for the company’s products.

“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,” the company’s chief security officer, Brad Arkin, posted in a blog on Thursday.

Arkin said the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords.

On top of that, the attackers obtained information on 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates and other information relating to customer orders.

The attackers did not get decrypted credit or debit card numbers from Adobe’s systems, Arkin said.

The company is resetting “relevant” customer passwords. “If your user ID and password were involved, you will receive an email notification from us with information on how to change your password. We also recommend that you change your passwords on any website where you may have used the same user ID and password,” Arkin said.

The company is also notifying customers whose credit or debit card information is believed to be involved in the incident and is assisting federal law enforcement in its investigation of the matter.

“We also recommend that customers monitor their account for incidents of fraud and identity theft, including regularly reviewing your account statements and monitoring free credit reports. If customers discover any suspicious or unusual activity on their account or suspect identity theft or fraud, they should report it immediately to their financial institution,” a statement from the company said.

Code theft

The attackers also accessed the source code for “numerous” Adobe products, including Adobe Acrobat, ColdFusion, ColdFusion Builder and other undisclosed products.

“Based on our findings to date, we are not aware of any specific increased risk to customers as a result of this incident,” Adobe’s CSO said.

Despite this, the company recommends that customers use only supported versions of the software, apply all available security updates and follow the advice in the Acrobat Enterprise Toolkit and the ColdFusion Lockdown Guide.

Adobe has an FAQ on the situation, including information on how customers can change their passwords.

One security researcher’s perspective on the incident is available here.