Unprotected Adobe Creative Cloud Database Exposes 7.5 Million Accounts

• Adobe has done it again, exposing Creative Cloud user data to the public by hosting an unprotected database online.
• This time, no credit card or login passwords were compromised, but the incident still opens the door to phishing.
• This is another reason for many not to use Adobe products anymore, added to the pugnacious pricing models.

Adobe has left an unprotected and publicly accessible ElasticSearch database online, exposing the details of nearly 7.5 million accounts, as Comparitech reports. The website partnered with security researcher Bob Diachenko, who made this discovery and then reported the problem to Adobe on October 19th. The company responded immediately by securing the database. However, according to the researcher’s estimations, the data must have been left online for at least a week. This means that there’s a good chance that someone has managed to download the exposed information in the meantime.

The account information that was exposed includes email addresses, account creation dates, account links to Adobe products, subscription status, member IDs, payment status, country of origin, Adobe employee status, and more.

Source: Comparitech

As it becomes evident from the above, no payment information or passwords were exposed, so this makes the incident less severe, although not unimportant. The leaked data still enables scammers to launch phishing attacks, engage in social engineering, and generally indulge in various forms of fraud against Adobe's customers. That said, it is important for the people exposed to accept this possibility and get prepared for email messages that make bold claims or unsolicited requests.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud is an all-in-one service that enables users to access the various products of the company, like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, InDesign, After Effects, and more. It enables clients to handle their subscriptions to these products, register for testing periods, manage updates, etc. Now, while this latest breach hasn’t exposed highly sensitive information, it is not the first time that the Creative Cloud has leaked user data to the public. The last time was in October 2013, with Adobe spilling 38 million user data entries, including login credentials, credit cards, and other critical information.

Adobe’s products are definitely sitting on the top of the hill in terms of features and usability, but their aggressive pricing and monthly subscription model has forced many creators outside their ecosystem. Recently, the company also claimed vague legal implications to force customers to upgrade to their latest product versions. All of this has created a stir, forcing people to look for alternatives. If you are in this position, our guides on Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere alternatives could be helpful to you.

Are you still in Adobe’s ecosystem, or have you already jumped ships? Let us know in the comments down below, or on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.