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Adobe Admits Nearly 40 Million Accounts Compromised By Major Hack

By Ian Bush

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--The software maker behind Photoshop and Acrobat admitted earlier this month that it had been the victim of a serious hack but we are only now learning just how grave.

Adobe reports nearly 40 million customer accounts have been compromised.

Besides the source code to some of Adobe's biggest-selling products, criminals also got their hands on users' critical details.

"They got a triple whammy. Adobe had intellectual property stolen, privacy details stolen, username, password, home address, telephone number, etc. And then you have [credit] cardholder information potentially compromised."

Ken Stasiak with the information security firm SecureState says Adobe has been slow to reveal the scope of one of the worst breaches he's ever seen.

"They should come out, have empathy, say, 'we screwed up, we didn't do what we said we should have done.' Transparency to the investigation, what's coming out, how we're doing it. Have commitment, and then bring the expertise in to make sure it doesn't happen again."

But since many people use the same username and password across the web, the hackers could have a very lucrative list on their hands.

While Adobe says it's notifying people who are affected, it's time for anyone who's had an account with the company to beef up the rest of their web security.

For more on the breach and what consumers can do, visit: KrebsOnSecurity.com.

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