Subscription Spy

[Sandygrove]

I don't want to bring this fear up here.  Do you have any ideas on this?  Not knowing too much about computer & Internet I still have this fear.  When you have an Adobe Subscription, (Lightroom Classic, Photoshop...)  what is to keep a determined computer person from surveying all your photos by getting into the subscription, and if they don't like what you are doing, inserting a bit of computer code or a small application into this specific subscription.  Then the next time you have to go online to check in with the subscription, this inserted code will hijack or mess up your Lightroom database or change your Photoshop tools.  ( I don't know how much you have to go online and check in now.  I remember it being every month.)  I'm sorry to bring this up.  I'm sure it would be illegal.  Is there a watchdog group monitoring this, or does Adobe?  I'm sorry to bring this up because there seems to be many people using subscription and loving it.  I've always had this fear of subscription.  I completely know nothing and have hardly anyone to ask this of.  Thank You For Any Help. 

Thank You Very Much Again for putting up with this question.  I didn't want to ask it because I have used Adobe stand alone products for years.   They are so above everything else in my mind.   Your products, are the best!

Thank You,

Sandy

[GoldingD]

I do not see this as a major threat. And I suspect it is not viable. But, perhaps another community member who is an Information Technology Security Manager, and not retired, may have a more complete answer and explanation on that.

The Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App, occasonally contacts Adobe servers to authenticate your subscription, basically, is your account paid up, yes/no. The Adobe server responds with Yes or no, Just a hatch sent a hash returned. I suspect the hackers would need to hack both ends.

[TheDigitalDog]

Kind of seriously wonder if hackers have less important things to hack than a lot of mostly amateur photographs. 
You might want to worry more about on-line banking, as just one example. 

[JP Hess]

You mentioned Lightroom Classic specifically, along with Photoshop. Both of those applications enable you to save all of your work locally on your computer and not store anything in the cloud. The only thing you would be using the cloud for would be to update and upgrade your programs. Subsequently, I can't see how anyone would be able to scrutinize the content of your work unless they are able to hack into your computer and hard drive directly. Now if you are utilizing the cloud features that are part of LrC and Photoshop I suppose if you are a conspiracy theorist you could be wary of such problems as you describe. But I am not concerned.

[Sandygrove]

Thank everyone for ideas.  Any more info would be great, if there are anymore ideas.  I have never gone online with my imac computer in the past that had Lightroom and Photoshop standalone versions on it.  I only was online at the Apple Store if I had a problem.  My hard drive finally failed so I have to replace it on my iMac or buy a new or refurbished machine.  If I got a subscription I still would never be online on that computer if I could help it.  I don't know how subscription works.  I would need to check in online sometime with an Adobe subscription?  I have another laptop that I do the Web with.  Sorry to not understand subscription connections.

Sandy

[Sandygrove]

Sandy again...I would not be storing anything in the Cloud

[Conrad C]

It's OK to have the concerns that you do. But one thing that needs to be corrected is that it is not the subscription that you should be concerned about. The subscription is only the way that you pay.

You are concerned about how software checks into a server. That does not depend on a subscription. Before Adobe switched to subscriptions, Adobe software was already checking in, through a software activation system. The software would check into the server to verify the license. Just like Microsoft does with Windows and Office.

I have free software that can be set to "check updates automatically." It checks in and there is not even any money involved, but the code is still there to talk to a server. And yes, there have been security vulnerabilities in update mechanisms, such as the Sparkle framework used by a lot of cheap/free software on the Mac.

So if you are worried about this, it is not the form of payment (subscriptions) you should be looking closely at. It is any code that checks in with a server, and you already accept the risks for the other non-subscription software you use. For example, email. Lots of people are worried about spying, but at the same time accept the idea of keeping valuable communications (email) on a cloud server that transfers data to/from your computer and phone many times an hour! And what is on most people’s email in the cloud are things like account numbers, travel plans, names of family and friends and the actual email correspondence between them, financial info for banks and investments, medical info, etc. Anyone who says they refuse to trust the cloud must ask themselves why they continue to use email hosted on somebody else’s server. (Unfortunately, it’s usually impractical to host an email server at home.)

Same with using iCloud, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. All of those services not only connect your computer to servers, but stay connected all day long, sending data back and forth hundreds of times a day to check in and see if anything’s changed that needs to be synced.

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@Sandygrove wrote:

Is there a watchdog group monitoring this?

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Yes. There are some good, experienced eyes out there who report on security mistakes that software/cloud companies make. They have reported on Adobe security breaches in the past. If you want to keep up on what companies are leaking information, follow sources like the ones below:

Krebs on Security - Brian Krebs

https://krebsonsecurity.com/

Security Now - Steve Gibson

https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

Ars Technica Biz & IT news

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/

[JP Hess]

If you subscribe and simply use Lightroom Classic in Photoshop then the cloud can be used to download and install your programs. The programs are installed on your computer hard drive and run locally on your computer. The images are stored locally on your computer hard drive. There are cloud features available IF you want tto use them, but they are optional. Lightroom Classic can be used just like the traditional standalone Lightroom that you may have used in the past. The cloud would simply be used as a delivery system to provide updates to the programs.

I have a few collections shared from Lightroom Classic, and I have a few images that I have downloaded directly using Lightroom (the cloud version). Personally, I have never concerned myself with anyone monitoring my work or stealing my work. I occasionally will share a collection with other people. That is one of the things I like about having that option available in Lightroom Classic.

[Sandygrove]

Do you have to update the programs?  I would pay for a year service.  Thank You.  This kind of outlines it!

Sandy

[JP Hess]

It isn't necessary to install the updates. However, the programs are updated several times each year, and the updates are included in the subscription. All that is necessary is to allow the updates to install when they are available. It's a very straightforward process. I have never had a problem with any of them.

[Sandygrove]

Thanks so much for your help and everyones.  Tomorrow I'll see if anyone else has left any info.  Thank You for something I knew nothing about but feared for a long time.  I may consider subscription now if I need to get a newer computer.  Thank You Very Much,

Sandy