Adobe distances itself from Google hack

Not an attack vector, firm says.

Adobe Systems has publicly stated that a flaw in one of its product was not to blame for the recent Chinese hacking attacks against it and several other companies, most notably Google.

It was thought that an exploited PDF attachment may have been sent in an email to Google employees in an attempt to hack the web giant's databases, with a view to gaining access credentials to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Shortly after the news came to light, Adobe reported that its corporate network suffered an attack, thought to be from the same source.

However, in a blog posting yesterday the firm said that it had no evidence to suggest Adobe Reader or any other of its products was used as the attack vector.

"Media coverage this week has suggested that Adobe software may have been a vector used in the recent attacks against Adobe and other companies," read the blog posting.

"We are continuing our investigation into the incident, but to date, none of the work done by Adobe or any third party has uncovered evidence to indicate that Adobe technology was an attack vector."

The news was bolstered by the revelation from Microsoft that a flaw in its Internet Explorer web browser was actually to blame for the Google hack.

Adobe argued that the incidents serve "as a reminder to all of us the importance of layers of security" in securing corporate systems.