Creative Cloud File Deletion Fallout

Adobe last week confirmed an issue where Creative Cloud files were being automatically deleted on Apple Mac devices, causing users to lose files. The issue was first identified by back-up software vendor Backblaze, which reported hundreds of Adobe Creative Cloud customers contacting them for help restoring lost files. Since then, Adobe admitted there was a problem and put it down to an update to the Creative Cloud suite.

For organizations using Adobe Creative Cloud, we recommend identifying all deployed instances of version 3.5.0.206 on Mac devices (a good inventory solution like Snow Inventory will make it easy to identify these instances). 

Any identified devices should be updated (or even restored to an earlier version) as a matter of urgency.  We also recommend backing-up all Creative Cloud files immediately (again, your SAM platform can be used to identify where appropriate back-up applications are installed). This isn’t the first problem to hit Adobe’s Creative Cloud offering.

Back in 2013 Adobe lost millions of Creative Cloud customer’s usernames and passwords at a time when they were really trying to push a move to the cloud. This latest news is proof once again that, while the focus of Software Asset Management is changing from compliance to optimization, it is no less critical to have full visibility of what software installs, usage and entitlement across the organization.

If you would like more information on successful inventory, our experts have authored a whitepaper entitled ‘Metrics to Measure SAM Success’.