Week 6 Blog

Adobe Got Hacked

The world of Information Security is of course ever growing. Throughout all of the warnings, companies are still not choosing the best means possible to protect their customer’s personal information. Recently, Adobe was hacked. The attackers were able to obtain “customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders.” (King, 2013) In fact, 3 million accounts were compromised by the attack on Adobe. (King, 2013)

            While the attackers were only able to compromise encrypted credit and debit card numbers, my concern is that the attackers maybe be able to decrypt this information in the future. It is unclear as to what type of encryption algorithms Adobe was using. Obviously, it is our hope that they used the strongest encryption algorithm possible but this does not guarantee any customer security on the matter. However, Adobe has taken some immediate action to reset all adobe passwords. (King, 2013) Therefore, Adobe has made a few attempts to help their customers.       

            Holding a customer’ private information is a very difficult task that all businesses will face. It is important that businesses employ information security professionals in order to help mitigate the risk of being vulnerable to attackers. However, eliminating all risks is not necessarily easily done. It is important to protect customer’s information because you run the risk of jeopardizing your own company’s reputation. If a business loses their reputation, they may face scrutiny from the public and even face losses in sales. It is so important that businesses take information security very seriously.

References

King, R. (2013, October 3). Adobe hacked, 3 million accounts compromised. Retrieved October 6, 2013, from CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57605962-83/adobe-hacked-3-million-accounts-compromised/