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Homeland Security Urges Lenovo Customers To Remove Superfish
HughPickens.com (3830033) writes "Reuters reports that the US Department of Homeland Security has advised Lenovo customers to remove "Superfish" software from their computers. According to an alert released through its National Cyber Awareness System the software makes users vulnerable to SSL spoofing and could allow a remote attacker to read encrypted web browser traffic, spoof websites and perform other attacks on Lenovo PCs with the software installed. Lenovo inititally said it stopped shipping the software because of complaints about features, not a security vulnerability. "We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns," the company said in a statement to Reuters early on Thursday. On Friday, Lenovo spokesman Brion Tingler said the company's initial findings were flawed and that it was now advising customers to remove the software and providing instructions for uninstalling "Superfish". "We should have known about this sooner," Tingler said in an email. "And if we could go back, we never would have installed this software on our machines. But we can't, so we are dealing with this head on.""
"Lenovo began installing Superfish VisualDiscovery software on some of its computers as early as 2010". And Homeland Security, with all their skillful teams, their heavy means, could not figure out that dirty adware before 2015?
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Hey! We found a chance to get positive PR! Such a rare occurence...contact the spin department!
as most viruses and trojans today are written for windows.
They've been doing nothing but putting spin on this since it blew up in their face. Claiming they installed it to enhance the user's experience instead of because they were paid to. Claiming there's no security risk. Claiming they stopped it because of complaints of the "features", rather than because their customers believed it to be intrusive and dangerous. Claiming it can be simply and completely removed with a standard uninstall, which does not remove the custom certificate and vulnerability. Retracting statements and making apologies while dodging the actual issue.
I don't expect many will accept this as a suitable definition of "head on".
To be fair, 90% OSes in the world are Windows. What do you think would happen if 90% OSes were Linux (besides my complete satisfaction)?
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Does anyone know if other computer manufactures have used Superfish software? Software installers? Just curious if other manufactures also bought the sales pitch from the Superfish sales team.
as most viruses and trojans today are written for windows.
Are you suggesting that Lenovo couldn't have done this if Linux was preinstalled?
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
The agency could educate more the population. As it stands, this advice is superfishal.
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
This is a consumer protection function. For goodness sake. Give it to the commerce dept.
Its a G series consumer model.
It doesn't have "Superfish", never has had. I followed the manual removal procedure and didn't find any references to it.
Of course, this is probably only a feature of US Lenovo laptops, Lenovo Europe has probably got an equivalent fishing/manipulation system called someting else and are keeping quiet about it. "We don't install Superfish! OhhhNooooooo!!!!!".
Petah Tiqva, Israel.
I think it's interesting that Lenovo posts not just the "Automatic Removal Tool," but also the source code to the tool. What I want to know is this: has anyone compiled it, and managed to get their compile options/environment such that they came up with a binary that matches the downloadable tool?
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Interesting (in a scaring way). I wish I had mod points.
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
What about all those nefarious apps in the Android app store? Do you recommend not using Android either?
Linux would certainly rise the entry level for malware writers, which would make malware writing a less promising market.
+1I, that's what I thought.
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or Run away from companies that literally attempt to cause consumers security problems and consumers should never come back. That's the only way companies are going to learn to be buyer/customer oriented.
Linux would certainly rise the entry level for malware writers, which would make malware writing a less promising market.
Today's Linux, maybe. The Linux that's been rewritten so 90%+ of the population will use it... doubtful. You'd probably have to make sudo escalation as easy as UAC escalation and once you run as administrator/root it's pretty much game over no matter what system you're on.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Homeland Security wants you to remove this from your system because something in it is messing with the NSA's ability to easily peer into said system? Just a thought.
I use OpenBSD and I like it, but it isn't a magic incantation that keeps Bad Guys away. Poor configuration and third party apps can lead to holes. Now OpenBSD is better than most at controlling some kinds of damage here, but OpenBSD is great at obeying the user, even to a fault. There is an alternative for people who need some more exotic software/hardware support in building their own Linux from toothpicks with Gentoo and hardening, but this takes still more knowledge from the person assembling it. That being said OpenBSD makes a wonderful desktop operating system.
Why, thank you! I had no idea you cared!
Homeland security is now an expert on computer security? Will they do as wonderful a job here as they've done at airports? Will Americans soon have to flash their national IDs at the computers before being allowed on the Internet?
What the devil is Homeland Security doing issuing such a statement? Mission creep to the nth degree...
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
use OpenBSD!
Actually installing any Linux fragrance would completely wipe-out this stinky big fish crap.
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Hello!
We, your neighbourly friends over at DHS got your back and we've provided a convient uninstaller for that nasty pieve of Chinese spyware a/k/a Superfish. Please indicate if you are a US Citizen/Resident* then click download, run and just click Yes to run as an Administrator. Kthxbye!
* US Citizens/Residents will be provided by a similar download from our technology partners at gchq-dl.gov.uk.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
http://windows.microsoft.com/e...
And get rid of all of the other crapware that Lenovo put on your PC in one fell swoop. No doubt it will take more effort to do it this way but it will also be more complete. (I have no idea if this works outside the US.)
For further information I wold check the ideapad section at notebookreview.com where you can find reinstallation help (including the thread I just started.)
You're so funny :)
You would lose 99% of computer-using population at the "download an installation image from the website and burn it to a CD or make a bootable USB stick". That is before you had to tell them to change the device boot order in BIOS. Which is before they would run into an installer where you can't click on anything and that might as well speak hebrew to them. Which is before they realized half their hardware isn't recognized. Which is before they realize Flash doesn't work. Etc, etc etc...
To be fair, 90% OSes in the world are Windows. What do you think would happen if 90% OSes were Linux (besides my complete satisfaction)?
I can't say for sure - but I doubt people would be touting the security of Windows.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Actually use a different OS for each of your computer. Stuff that can infect your box regardless which OS you are on pretty much means you are screwed either way. Like investing, diversifying would be a better strategy as the scope of the damage is more limited than homogeneous system/networks.
What makes you think openbsd hasn't been corrupted by some third party? Just because of the size of the target? Even squirrels get shot for food, and that's a small target. You are betting on security thru obscurity, not a safe bet.
Silly goose - haven't you heard? FreeBSD is the cure to all problems. To the point where you can say you have a bunion on your foot, yup, FreeBSD will fix that for ya. It's like a modern washday miracle!
Well you see FreeBSD does everything you need, so there's no need to stand up ever again. So the bunion on your foot won't matter.
Superfish has been added to malware database of Windows Defender (the integrated virus protection of Windows). A lot of Windows machines are already ringing alarm bells.
Are you suggesting that Lenovo couldn't have done this if Linux was preinstalled?
Lenovo wouldn't have dared doing it.
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Wut? I know Linus is a bit of a hard case, but I kinda doubt that Lenovo shivers in their corporate boots every time they here his name mentioned.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Maybe not. But such crapware would have been detected much faster on Linux.
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Number one reason not to use Ubuntu and anything that uses SUDO in a way that it uses the same password as your username password, it's fucking stupid, kill sudo and use SU with a proper root password that's different to your user password. Ubuntu should be shamed for using sudo in such a stupid fashion.
http://chimpbox.us
I used to run gentoo hardened on an old computer as a router/gateway. Was quite nice. When you only have essentially the base system, the compile times for updates are not very long at all, and gentoo stable is quite stable, so you only update it once a month or so.
Why not try to rehabilitate them? The Free Software Foundation agrees with your statement "we need computer hardware that is free and open all the way down to the hardware", but instead of sacking them they suggest telling them to "respect user freedom" etc. When I read the changelog from official Thinkpad BIOS updates which include the word "Linux", I'm more encouraged than discouraged about the company.
systemd relative importance has been discussed here on this very site. It's deemed overrated.
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The last time I checked Superfish was installed in the Flash Video Downloader available from the official Mozilla Addons download website.
In the FVD source I have locally, the files of interest are superfish_titles.txt and superfish.js which are both in the modules/ directory.
Because, just like with robbery, the government hates competition.
"Lost time is not found again."
I've thought about that approach a bit. Diversifying limits the scope of any infection, but it also increases the chance of any individual infection. With a network of heterogenous systems, you need to also ensure that the network is set up to keep the systems isolated (which is even more important in a homogeneous environment anyway, so no big deal).
The best approach would be to use whatever OS is best capable of handling a specific task. But if you're not very familiar with each of the OSs deployed on your network, you're better off avoiding it and using something that you can keep updated and hardened.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
For the typical Windows/Mac/Ubuntu user who would install malware, the only time they ever type an OS-related password on their system is to perform superuser tasks. Most people don't use passwords on their personal computers and have automatic login set up. The fact that the sudo password is the same as their account password is irrelevant because they only ever use it to perform superuser tasks anyway.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
That may be true.
It's not applicable in this case, because this is OEM-installed adware. Everything it does can be implemented just fine on a Linux system. The solution is really the same for this sort of thing regardless of whether you're talking Windows or Linux -- don't use the OEM-provided pile of crapware that comes with the machine; install a brand-new copy of just the OS.
Someone needs to sue these dicks- if I had to repair my computer for national security reasons because of someone's incompetent malfeasance, I would want to get paid for the time wasted. If you're a lawyer specializing in class action suits, this warning from the DHS is like a Superfish on a platter!
true.
That 90% OS's is of course, one great big fat lie. Let's try and count mobile devices in that and as they greatly outnumber desktops and that doesn't include servers either. So yeah, windows, they are well below 50% and falling fast with regard to OS installations. When it comes to Lenovo and superfish and their intent was to 'supplement the shopping experience', seriously piss of you public relations shit heads, that makes them a dead product manufacturer for at least a decade, simply not to be trusted, redirecting searches, hidden and hard to remove, simply totally and grossly unacceptable, anybody who buys any of the products even from a bargain bin is foolish.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
DHS wants a few thousand Lenovo PC owners to do this while their cronies are hacking and spying on everybody worldwide whether they own a PC, smartphone or not. Look over there! A Chinaman named Lenovo and you should be very afraid! Sick. Of. It.
To be fair, 90% OSes in the world are Windows. What do you think would happen if 90% OSes were Linux (besides my complete satisfaction)?
Then the year of the Linux desktop would be 3 years away instead of 5 years away.
Too late.
If it's already been exploited to install other malware, removing the loader for that malware isn't going to get rid of the malware that came in while the door was being held open by Superfish.
That Uber department is a whole lot of other stuff mashed together and then expanding.
Enforcing copyright on Rubik's cubes - that's them. Disaster recovery - that's them.
It's Californian spyware.
I met a spammer once when I was out of work and thought I'd take anything. He had a similar attitude to the above quote and said he was just informing people of the options available for porn and penis enlargement. Turns out I wasn't quite ready to take anything, but maybe mostly because it didn't look like I could trust him to pay me either.
Not even today's Linux. How many distros actually have AppArmor/SELinux enabled?
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
Yeah right,
I remind you of the rant Linus Torvalds had with SUSE where his daughter needed to know the root password to install printers.
I think a not so super level is required for limited system change rights.
No, the company has offices in both Palo Alto and in Israel. The CEO and co-founder was born in Israel. The company itself was founded in Israel.