Adobe investigates database hack claims

Attack

Adobe is investigating claims that a computer hacker has obtained the email addresses and passwords of more than 150,000 of the firm's customers and partners.

In a post on text sharing site, Pastebin, a computer hacker called ViruS_HimA claims to have hacked into an Adobe database.

"I have hacked into one of the Adobe servers, gained full access to it, dumped the database...[and] it contains over 150,000 email [addresses and] passwords," the hacker wrote.

This was accompanied by a series of links to several websites hosting a file containing 230 records that reportedly feature the names, email addresses, usernames and encrypted passwords of people from several US government agencies.

The hacker said only @adobe.com, .mil and .gov email addresses were at risk of being leaked, before going on to warn that Yahoo could be its next target.

"I'm not looking to ruin Adobe's business...but they don't really take care of security issues," wrote ViruS_HimA.

"When someone reports [a] vulnerability to them, it take[s] five-to-seven days for the notification that they've received your report.

"Such big companies should really respond very fast and fix the security issues as fast as they can," the hacker added.

In a statement to IT Pro, an Adobe spokesperson responded to the post by stating: "We are aware of the claim and are in the process of investigating."

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.