Posted by freescholar on February 20, 2015 at 2:31am
What brand of computer is safe/good to buy?
If you've recently purchased a laptop computer made by Lenovo, you may want to hear this: Experts say the world's biggest computer maker shipped laptops with pre-installed software that could let hackers steal passwords or other sensitive information when you use the web to shop, pay bills or check email.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_LENOVO_MALWARE?SITE=AP&SEC...
Comments
Yuck!
Lenovo was one of the few brands I trusted. What a disappointment.
I heard about this from a
I heard about this from a security-conscious friend of mine. It's pretty stunning, and totally dissolves any credibility Lenovo had in my mind.
Bad practice
It’s very important to stop this kind of practice, by been exposed, I hope Lenovo will cease to try to do this type of interference and the other computer companies will learn from this fiasco too.
Big Mistake...but let's not over react
This issue affected consumer products and has been pulled and a fix issued.
From Lenovo's latest press release:
"
To be clear: Lenovo never installed this software on any ThinkPad notebooks, nor any Lenovo desktops or smartphones. This software has never been installed on any enterprise product -- servers or storage -- and these products are in no way impacted. And, Superfish is no longer being installed on any Lenovo device.
"
TJ
The eff has instructions to remove Superfish, if you have it...
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/02/how-remove-superfish-adware-your-l...
Handbook on Platform Cooperativism, a movement building platforms and tools owned by the people. http://bit.ly/hackitownit
Unbelievable. Thanks for the
Unbelievable. Thanks for the link, Micky.
From fsf.org
The basis of the problem is a program by Superfish that is designed to
interject advertisements into users' Web browsing. That's irritating,
but it gets worse. Superfish also installs a certificate that
intercepts Web traffic and cripples the host computer's ability to use
HTTPS to validate the authenticity of Web sites. This leaves an open
door for attackers to use fake versions of sites that should be secure
-- like bank Web sites -- to steal personal information.
You can read more about the vulnerability at [Ars Technica]
https://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/lenovo-pcs-ship-with-man-in-the...
Handbook on Platform Cooperativism, a movement building platforms and tools owned by the people. http://bit.ly/hackitownit