Adobe is under investigation by the Irish data watchdog after its massive network breach last year.
The Irish Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) told PC Pro it was investigating Adobe over the theft of 38 million active customer records. Adobe itself notified the ODPC of the breach in October.
The ODPC is leading the probe as Adobe Ireland handles all data processing for customers outside North America. The watchdog said it had received a number of complaints from British users, but didn't give further details.
Adobe is also feeling the heat from those whose details may have been leaked by the hackers.
Security company LastPass said last year it had found 152 million customer records leaked online, though not all were for active users.
Since then, users have reported increasing amounts of spam to email addresses only registered to Adobe, suggesting spammers may have stockpiled the leaked information.
Spam emails
One PC Pro reader, John Hartley, said he caught a spam email over Christmas in an email account created specifically for Adobe. Hartley wrote to Adobe to complain, blaming the spam on the network hack.
"I give unique email addresses when I register with organisations," he said. "Because I use unique addresses I am able to identify when these problems occur and stop the spam reaching my [personal] inbox."
A number of Adobe forum users reported similar issues. "When I signed up for [an] Adobe ID, I created a unique address that has only ever been used for the initial registration with Adobe, logging into Adobe ID, and for emails from Adobe," James_B wrote.
"No mail has ever been sent from that address. The unique address has started getting spam and phishing email," he added.
Adobe wouldn't comment directly on whether hacked users are getting more spam, but a forum moderator urged those affected to change the email addresses registered to Adobe.
In a statement to PC Pro, Adobe said it hadn't seen any unusual activity on any Adobe ID accounts to date. "We deeply regret that this incident occurred and any inconvenience this may cause our customers," a spokesperson said. "We are working diligently internally, as well as with external partners and law enforcement, to address the incident."
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