Adobe partners with Microsoft for apps security

Adobe has joined the Microsoft Active Protections Program as part of the company's plan to increase the security of its applications.

Adobe had been using a different security alert service, but has signed up for Microsoft's security alert system to propagate details about security vulnerabilities, and avoid "reinventing the wheel".

"We wanted to give vendors a better chance at protecting customers," Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy, told V3.co.uk.

Adobe has reconfigured its approach to application security in the face of increasing attacks from hackers, he added.

The firm has increased the number of engineers dealing with security sevenfold, and instituted a training policy aimed at stopping problems at the code level.

Adobe now has a training system based on a judo theme, under which staff earn 'belts' based on their experience.

White and green belts can be earned by study and a multiple-choice questionnaire, while a brown belt requires running a project to completion, which can take around three months.

A black belt requires overseeing brown belt projects, the equivalent of around 18 months' full time work.

Adobe has also been working with individual security researchers to find flaws in its code, as hackers are increasingly targeting third-party applications such as Adobe's Reader platform.