Has anyone else dealt with an Adobe License audit?
Posted by ramsdawg@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 89 comments
Our organization got an email from EMEALicenseReview@adobe.com basically asking us to fill out a license verification form (Lizenzprüfungsformular) which has some questions about whether users share email addresses / adobe accounts. As far as I could see online, this is a legit request from Adobe.
Are they trying to crack down on shared accounts or what? Has anyone else gone through this? The timing seems random because we've been using Adobe for at least 10 years.
This is pretty frustrating after so many headaches with billing errors from Adobe where we sometimes can't even purchase new licenses if we wanted. If they're really just trying to milk us for a few more overpriced licenses, I'm going to lose even more respect for this company.
not_myvibe@reddit
I run a small agency and today I randomly noticed an email from Adobe about a license review/audit.
We’ve honestly been a bit inactive on checking some emails for a while due to internal issues, so this kind of caught me off guard. Not sure how serious this is or if it’s something routine.
We do use Adobe products across the team, but like most small agencies, usage hasn’t always been perfectly structured (licenses vs users etc.), so I’m a bit concerned now.
I wanted to understand:
Would really appreciate honest insights from anyone who has dealt with this. I am reallly scared and panicking, please help me out
Thanks in advance 🙏
magfoo@reddit
We have completed the Adobe audit.
Make sure that no licenses are assigned to generic email addresses and that the licenses are not used abroad. Then you get an AD tool that scans everything and documents the installation base.
The most important thing is: no generic email addresses.
Fun fact: our auditor was the former justice minister of Bulgaria.
TechEngineer_21@reddit
Mind to share what else for the non-compliance they charged? Currently we’re on going for the Adobe audit
Lucky_Argon@reddit
I can second this, I went through it this year. We had some generic emails, they equate that to license sharing. I used it as an opportunity to remove Adobe from some PCs and will have a smaller bill next year.
phalangepatella@reddit
Was it like this?
I relied:
Joestac@reddit
It is my understanding, not a lawyer, that you are by no means obligated to audit yourself for them. If they want to audit you can they can do it officially and on-site. I would either ignore this, or pass it to the legal/hr team. Again, not a lawyer.
Enough_Pattern8875@reddit
Out of curiosity, would you have the same reply if it were Microsoft asking?
Drew707@reddit
Speaking from experience, when MSFT thinks you've fucked up, you don't get an email, you get a process server.
52b8c10e7b99425fc6fd@reddit
Story time!
Drew707@reddit
Oh, man. I've posted it before. I wonder if I can find a previous response.
Part 1 which isn't relevant but gives context:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1dxqoam/comment/lc3uo32/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Part 2 which talks about the experience:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1dxqoam/comment/lc43ybv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
And a Part 3 with some follow up:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1dxqoam/comment/lc7ydr8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
52b8c10e7b99425fc6fd@reddit
Thanks this was quite the adventure lmaooo
Joestac@reddit
I would and I have.
Enough_Pattern8875@reddit
What was the result?
I’ve never refused a license true up with Microsoft, I’ve always been happy to perform them with whatever vendor we’re using at the time. Microsoft audits suck, and refusing to acknowledge them would only trigger an audit.
Mindestiny@reddit
Not that sysadmin, but my last "surprise" Microsoft audit was just a response email that we use M365 and no other individually licensed Microsoft products in our environment, and they can see activations from their own end.
That was the end of it, they closed out the audit. It's just a sales tactic.
Joestac@reddit
When we were asked all we did was answer how many licenses we had versus how many were assigned. Basically what the admin portal says, it never went more than that. For an audit, they need to provide proof that you are in violation, you don't have to do that for them. A true up and what OP is being asked for are very different.
BloodFeastMan@reddit
Exactly this, send them back a ten page questionnaire asking them to list the reasons that they think you're scamming them.
2cats2hats@reddit
Nope, no efforts. Just ignore. They've no leg to stand on. We've all wasted enough precious time on Adobe, no need to waste more.
52b8c10e7b99425fc6fd@reddit
Adobe really needs to go out of business already.
Tymanthius@reddit
I wouldn't even reply.
52b8c10e7b99425fc6fd@reddit
I'd create a mail filter for them :)
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
That’s my first thought too. I’m mostly posting here wondering if Adobe is on a new trend of “auditing” their customers :/
Mindestiny@reddit
Not new. Last time I had to do one of these I literally responded with "we have enterprise adobe licensing purchased directly through you, you can see valid activations from your end and we are not using any other Adobe licensing in our environment." and they promptly fucked off.
They cannot force you to do a manual audit and you are well within your rights to tell them to piss off. It's a scare tactic to try to drum up sales, you go digging into it and you'll almost certainly find someone who started a free trial or something who when you ask about it will go "oh yeah, I NEED a license, buy one for me please!!!"
kombiwombi@reddit
It depends on the contract terms if they can force you (in the sense that if you don't audit then they terminate the license). You'll remember all the audits during the Covid years as software companies tried to prop up revenue.
That's why this goes to the IT Director and legal.
BinaryWanderer@reddit
It’s really an email that should go to legal and any response from legal. Adobe is asking you to hand them rope to hang your company with.
Frothyleet@reddit
And your legal team is the one with the responsibility to determine whether you have any contractual obligation to provide that rope.
BinaryWanderer@reddit
Legal Team reads the email.
Legal team replies: GFY
peppaz@reddit
I'm sending it right to my bird law department.
TheDisapprovingBrit@reddit
If they can’t help, speak to Tree Law. Those guys don’t fuck around.
Broad_Canary4796@reddit
They’ve been doing it for years, although I haven’t heard of them actually doing anything if you don’t respond to them. I would just ignore it, they have plenty enough money to create a self auditing system that would tell them who is actively misusing licenses.
Joestac@reddit
This is not a new trend, they have done this for well over a decade at least. I used to work for a SaaS company that did helped companies through actual audits. We'd scan their entire network and show usage and installs of software. Saved them millions by showing how few people actually needed Adobe Pro and could just use Reader.
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
I’ll look into that, thanks
Old_Wrongdoer7321@reddit
Yeah that's probably the move tbh, they can't really force you to audit yourself for them
plazman30@reddit
Fuck Adobe. They are a completely piece of shit company. Find alternatives for their products and migrate. So much easier.
EugeneKrabs1942@reddit
Adobe did that shit to me. So I canned them.
We're now on Affinity. Perpetual license at a fraction of the cost.
WalterFStarbuck@reddit
I'm looking all over their pages, where does Canva/Affinity offer a perpetual license?
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
Doesn’t need to, now that it’s free (unless you link Canva in… and why would you?)
WalterFStarbuck@reddit
It's always free until it isn't. Where's my perpetual license?
bombatomba69@reddit
Treat it like the MS audits: Bin it.
FoxNairChamp@reddit
A year or two ago, I joined the Adobe VIP portal. Seems easy enough; a dashboard to purchase licenses directly, and assign them to users. Except, it doesn't work that way. I first request a quote from a VAR, who works with another man in the middle, who then gets the licenses from Adobe, and then after about 2-3 weeks, the licenses show up.
Why can't I pay Adobe directly like any eCommerce site created in the last 20 years? It's unreal!
kagato87@reddit
Sales fishing most likely.
I got them from Oracle, twice, when I started my role. Once for Java and once for Oracle SQL.
We don't use Oracle Java, and their SQL is so expensive it still boggles me how many companies use it for bog standard workloads.
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
We got the Oracle Java one. So spent a bunch of money moving to Corretto. Probably not what Iracke expected. Oracle DB will be gone by the end of the year also.
slayernine@reddit
We have one cloud subscription with Adobe, I'm not going to reply to their email. They've sent it a few times now. Just because I pay you for a license doesn't mean you have the right to waste my time. I guarantee you this audit is just a disguised sales call nonsense, as well they are probably looking for people using old licenses which they have rescinded or some dumb thing like that and I'm not going to play ball. If they keep being a pain in the butt I'm just going to drop the one license that we are paying for and bite the bullet and find something else.
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
Affinity. 90% as good, 100% cheaper.
thatguyyoudontget@reddit
i wouldn't give a f**k. already hate this company enough. i pay for the license, i use however i want, you got a problem with that? tell me i cant use it like that on my screen.
ResponsibleBus4@reddit
We updated 2FA on an old adobe LWS account and got one of those stupid emails, grom a third party auditor. We didn't respond and they stopped sending them.
soundfeel@reddit
Yep. Had this.
The auditor felt quite hostile. After verifying that the audit is from Adobe, they wanted us to give detailed information about our other SaaS products in their questionnaire. Number of own servers, OS's etc. I declined all information separate of Adobe licenses as private information to our business. Eventually it concluded that we had everything in order. She tried to bump up some more Creative Cloud licenses for "more headroom" but I told that we'll contact our supplier if necessary.
I'd never ever use a single Adobe product if our industry would have proper alternatives and I always consult new clients to avoid them.
This bullshit took at least 20 of my working hours which I'd be happy to bill from them.
Stokehall@reddit
Try autoCAD, their audit is basically a product tax at this point. 1 person logs into their autoCAD on a different office computer 1 day because their computer is under maintenance, that’s a shared license and you will now be paying for an assumption that every user is sharing licenses. Even when you have 1 per employee. This is exactly how the treated my father in laws business. Fuck AutoCad
discosoc@reddit
I think some of this is the tip of the AI iceberg where compliance violations routinely scanned for based on behavior.
frankv1971@reddit
We had one at the beginning of this year. As I knew we were compliant I filled out the form. Uploaded it. They contacted us afterwards and together with them we could even consolidate some licenses and our license count went down. What others mentioned, make sure you have no licenses that are registered to a generic mail address that multiple people use.
The same happened years ago with a MS audit. Haven't heard from them since.
If you are compliant there is no problem.
quetzalcoatlus1453@reddit
Aren't most of these "audits" just basically sales opportunities?
GremlinNZ@reddit
Does Adobe/Microsoft/whatever want more money?
Whatever makes the line go up...
TheKuMan717@reddit
Ignore and call it phishing 😂
Ant1mat3r@reddit
Microsoft roped us into one of these engagements, and the contractor performing it tried to make us purchase licenses we already had through our vendor.
It was a huge fucking mess, and I'd never do it again. Any audit requests go straight to the trash now.
aasmith26@reddit
100% will never ever use Oracle Java if I do not have to.
SousVideAndSmoke@reddit
Oracle sales dev dingleberry has been all up in our mailboxes, sprayed to almost two dozen people. You know Java isn’t free anymore, yep. When did you last scan your environment, we do that weekly. You sure you don’t have any java. Yep, stop emailing us. We need to get on a call. Suck it Nate, here’s the email for our legal team, stop emailing anybody else. Could not take no for an answer.
ElCincoDeDiamantes@reddit
Send them an engagement letter for your labor. Require a deposit.
theballygickmongerer@reddit
Unless this comes through your account subscription/ renewal channels I would ignore.
nighthawke75@reddit
Spamcop report. Let one giant deal with another.
Adobe vs Cisco. What a war that will be.
tr3kilroy@reddit
Certified letter or it did't happen
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
Hmm, I think have a very hungry spam filter
nighthawke75@reddit
Spamcop report them. Let Adobe deal with Cisco.
samfisher850@reddit
I got one of them, never replied but did do a quick internal audit and found users who had just started sharing a creative cloud account. I got them squared away and didn't get anything further. Could be coincidence, could be they picked up some sort of signal for account sharing.
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
I've ignored nearly as many of those as I have from oracle.
korewarp@reddit
The instant Adobe would have the audacity to do this to any org I am attached to, I would cancel all licenses and work FOR FREE to switch to another provider. Holy shit.
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
I had the same feeling when their tech fixing a billing issue (their fault) tried to sell me ai add ons
Torros1810@reddit
I had the same happen to me. I asked them to verify, approached other reps, and they said it was legit.
I told them it was unnecessary as we had a limited number of users and they kept pushing for the audit. I ended up ignoring them and it went away after a few months. Very annoying.
Duke_Cedar@reddit
No habla licensos.
Ignore them.
YouKidsGetOffMyYard@reddit
There is no legal requirement that you have to participate in such audits. I say the same thing to Microsoft, "thanks but no thanks, we do internal audits"
magfoo@reddit
Germs are legal. But you agreed to the audits with the license agreements.
If ignoring works, you're probably just too small
ncc74656m@reddit
Yeah but you don't just give in. Make them work for it and demand it in a proper format. It's not like they're just going to show up at your office, barge in, and start doing their audit. If they're going to go through the effort of auditing you at all, you have plenty of notice and time, during which you do the work to make sure they can't find a damned thing, and then go about your merry business knowing they don't have a leg to stand on.
magfoo@reddit
First of all: they don't come, they send emails and letters. Second: Adobe doesn't really work without the cloud. So they already have all the data. The data collection in AD is only used for verification. BTW: you have a maximum of 14 days to do this.
If you don't take part and it's so big that it's worth it for you, you'll just get a bill. If you don't pay, your licenses will be blocked.
Frothyleet@reddit
Are you in Germany? Are you familiar with OP's contractual agreements with Adobe?
You may or may not be correct but it boggles my mind how people will confidently make legal pronouncements like this.
YouKidsGetOffMyYard@reddit
I have consulted with our legal team regarding them. They told me to ignore them. You are correct though it is presumptuous, I guess in Germany it may be different.
SenTedStevens@reddit
I got one of these once. I forwarded it to my boss, he forwarded to legal, they said to ignore it and if they come back, CC our legal council and tell them to pound sand. We never heard back from them.
SurprisedMushroom@reddit
I just got this email too. Ignored the first one as I thought it was just a sales lead. Got a second more stern email with a deadline, so I filled out the form. Haven't heard back yet.
GoodTofuFriday@reddit
timing isnt random. adobe just made all perpetual licenses unsupported going forward. so if you want to stay compliant you need a subscription.
n3fyi@reddit
Microsoft does this. Just delete it
BinaryWanderer@reddit
BOHICA
-Copenhagen@reddit
I ignored them.
When they kept doing it, I asked my VAR to make it stop. That worked.
MiniMica@reddit
We had one a few years ago. We basically pulled a report of how many instances of each app we installed from our ITAM (SCCM and Jamf at the time) and sent it over to them. They tallied it against our licenses and that was it. There were a few over license but mainly due to users having new machines and not deactivating it on the old ones. All in all a very painless process. If you have your licenses under control I don’t see why you would ignore it, I wouldn’t want to risk my org getting a black list or anything like that.
tankerkiller125real@reddit
Where I work we only accept audits that have been submitted to us in writing via snail mail from actual legal offices/auditors.
For the digital audits we ignore them, if they really, really insist on it we drop them and switch to a competitors product.
gMoneh@reddit
Ah... Had one of these the other day. I will also now ignore it. Ha
BadSausageFactory@reddit
I would ignore the letter but also make sure your adobe licensing is correct.
Any-Fly5966@reddit
I've gotten a few of those over the years. I've just ignored them and they go away.
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
Good to hear. That just happens to be my favorite problem solving method
OneEyedC4t@reddit
did you contact Adobe to verify they are legit?
ramsdawg@reddit (OP)
Adobe confirmed the legitimacy in a couple of posts on their website forum plus any personal/contract information is autofilled in the form. Good enough for me to go ahead and ask about it here, but I’ll confirm again directly with them before we submit anything.
OneEyedC4t@reddit
yeah that's what i would've done too
TrippTrappTrinn@reddit
In our company, any type of audit is forwarded to the legal department.