Adobe Web Site Hacked

[Andrew]

I've just had my second letter of Adobe about this - it appears they have me down under an e-mail address i used several years ago, as well as the current one.

I think their real problem has been that they have been through 2 or 3 DB updates over the last few years and have made a hash of migrating data to the newer versions. I know this because i had to fight witht them to get my LR upgrade because they had no record of me ever having bought V2, and the same when i tried to upgrade my Photoshop to CS4.

I provided them with a whole raft of licence keys that they seemed to have never had details for, it was comical. I was even asked for my sales reciept for Ps v6 - some where back in 1999... When i asked if the person i was talking to had reciepts from software they'd bought and upgraded several times since 1999 i got a meek reply advising they hadn't.

As also said, another reason is they are based in America, which does not have the secure online system we do in the UK, and most of Europe. When in Vegas a few years ago, tried to pay for a meal by card and waitress to walk off with my card and swipte through the machine out the back and then get me to 'sign something'. Needless to say, she didn't wander off with my card, but i did have to concede they were still in the dark days and have to sign for things - and as in 2000, still using modems that shared the normal voice line and had to plgged in or unplugged according to what the line would be used for.

This brings me nicely on to Pentagon hacks - which is also the result of crap security. I'm always reminded of the introduction of Windows 2000 and the security that could not be set above 128 but encryption in the States (because the Pentagon etc couldn't manage encryption of that level) where as us in the UK were given an option to upgrade to 256 bit encryption, and that only because computers at the time struggled working with that level of encryption. I have no idea what level we're working with today, but it is mainly bolstered by 'multiple levels' of security.

Maybe this is why the NSA needs GCHQ to do the surveilence work - because America really is just not up to the job of offering proper security or decent surveilence systems...

Anyway, my e-mail address is apparently on that list of cracked e-mail addresses - so i suppose it just takes for me to trash the whole account and start again, because a change will still be as weak as the hack