Adobe’s breach casts doubt on its SaaS business model
October 9, 2013
Grazed from NetworkWorld. Author: Alan Shimel.
By now, you have likely heard about the latest massive breach over at Adobe. Besides the source code for Acrobat and Cold Fusion, something like 3 million accounts were breached as well. The good news is that credit card numbers for many of the account holders was encrypted. The bad news is that the credit card numbers for many of the accounts was encrypted. It is probably just a matter of time on that front.
But forget credit card numbers for a second. The fact is that Adobe has suffered yet another breach. Millions of accounts were compromised. If you use the same password on other sites that you use for Adobe, they are now in danger. Once again, the source code to their products is available. The Flash and Acrobat products are already two of the leading causes of breaches and sources of vulnerabilities…
Do you get the picture or do we have to Photoshop it for you? Adobe has some serious security concerns. But I am afraid it gets worse. Last May or so, Adobe announced a fundamental shift in its business model. Like Microsoft and others, Adobe wanted to move from the traditional software model to a Software-as-a-Service subscription model. Instead of buying software for a lot of money that starts the clock ticking on its obsolescence the day you buy it, they would instead "rent" you the software for a monthly fee. Under this SaaS model you always have up-to-date versions of the software, you don’t lay out big money up front and Adobe sees a steady, hopefully growing monthly revenue stream. Sounds great…
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