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Ars: SSL-Busting Code That Threatened Lenovo Users Found In a Dozen More Apps
Ars Technica reports on the continuing revelations about the same junkware that Lenovo has shipped on their computers, but which is known now to be present in at least 14 pieces of software.
The list of software known to use the same HTTPS-breaking technology recently found preinstalled on Lenovo laptops has risen dramatically with the discovery of at least 12 new titles, including one that's categorized as a malicious trojan by a major antivirus provider. ... What all these applications have in common is that they make people less secure through their use of an easily obtained root CA [certificate authority], they provide little information about the risks of the technology, and in some cases they are difficult to remove," Matt Richard, a threats researcher on the Facebook security team, wrote in Friday's post. "Furthermore, it is likely that these intercepting SSL proxies won't keep up with the HTTPS features in browsers (e.g., certificate pinning and forward secrecy), meaning they could potentially expose private data to network attackers. Some of these deficiencies can be detected by antivirus products as malware or adware, though from our research, detection successes are sporadic."
List 'em in the summary, slashdot.
CartCrunch Israel LTD
WiredTools LTD
Say Media Group LTD
Over the Rainbow Tech
System Alerts
ArcadeGiant
Objectify Media Inc
Catalytix Web Services
OptimizerMonitor
Hey look, there's Israel again (at least 3 times in fact). This Komodia/Superfish crap is likely Mossad sponsored. That would also help explain why Homeland Security put out urgent guidance to remove the crapware and even Microsoft added detection directly to their anti-malware tools. NSA doesn't like being upstaged on its own turf.
I would contend there are problems in the hardware also. This one runs deep. Everything on the market needs further inspection. More so now with all the governments demanding backdoors.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I'm fairly certain just installing this software is illegal.
Its not protected by some EULA because the device is sold before the EULA can be read, which courts have already ruled invalidates the EULA.
It violates the same laws that were used to put Kevin Mitnick in jail (and lets be clear, he deserved it), unauthorized access to a computer system and unauthorized access to data flowing across a network.
Hang'em high, I say. Bring Lenovo's leaders out to the chopping block, as well as the leadership of the companies who made any other software that works like this. Its a scam from the very beginning, theres no 'well, maybe its not bad' or 'maybe it was an accident' to it. This is outright bullshit behavior by companies trying to sell a product to someone and then turn that someone into the product for someone else. The entire legal system AND THE PUBLIC need to come down on this like a ton of bricks and make it clear that its unacceptable and will not be tolerated. And by not tolerated I mean 'you will be jailed, not fined'.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Which is why you should always build your own system.
Woz was right.
The browsers/OSes should harden by eliminating the ability for 3rd party software to automatically install a certificate or CA as trusted into the system database. They should also remove any functionality that allows a 'globally' wildcarded certifacte to be deployed to the browser
Basically, when the computer's hostname is assigned, or during user profile creation, the trusted certificate store should be reinitialized with only stock certificates approved by the OS maker or browser vendor.
A machine-specific keypair should be generated and used to stamp all the certificates with a local trust signature.
Any access to the machine keypair / stamp should be available only through an interactive approval process.
Sysprep'ing an image or changing the product key should invalidate the local trust mark and require manual re-approval of all certs not in the browser vendor's official trust list.
The last time I checked a version of Superfish was installed in the Flash Video Downloader for Android 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.
I can't remember if the same source kit is used for desktop Firefox.
Microsoft needs to grow a pair and lay down the law to any company that wants to be an OEM for their products. Apple wouldn't let the carriers pull this stunt on their phones.
This is a software issue, not a hardware issue. Unless you propose to personally code the entire operating system and every application program, that is not practical.
That said, replacing the preinstalled OS with a free one is my first step when buying a new computer. Most recently I managed to buy a PC without an OS at all, but that's rare,
Not just any boring vanilla pony - we want a unicorn pony and rainbows and the whole bit!
Lenovo probably will fire somebody, for embarrassing them, but it won't change the number of vendors of crapware out there. Lenovo's certainly not going to take the kind of financial hit that Gemalto did when the public found that the GCHQ had pwned all the SIM cards they sold. Maybe one or two adware companies will lose a non-trivial percentage, but there's a market for sleazy advertising and there's a market for having software companies pay to Add Valuable Features to your hardware.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Israel doesn't have a lot of revenue sources or natural resources, so high-tech products like software are important to them, even more so than growing oranges on Palestinian land. And everybody has to serve in the army, except a few specially exempted groups, so just about everybody with a college education has been in the Army before they got that high-tech job, and a lot of them did computer jobs in the Army as well as marching around with Uzis, because every army these days needs computer technology. That doesn't mean that every high-tech company in Israel, or even every sleazy adware company in Israel, is a front for Mossad.
Homeland Security has two highly obvious reasons to put out urgent guidance to remove crapware - there's a Congressional partisan squabble that's caught their budget in the crossfire, so they want to get positive press mention rather than the negative mention they'd get if they didn't do that, and the NSA's just gotten caught bugging every computer in the world so Homeland Security needs to talk about anybody else they can being dangerous and scary.
Besides, if it really was Mossad, they'd have done a much better job.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
of at least 12 new titles, including one that's categorized as a malicious trojan by a major antivirus provider.
Why aren't they all categorized as malicious trojans by all major antivirus providers?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The NSA program can flash permanently any HDD. FOREVER!!
There are some older drives out there that aren't flashable, at least not over the normal computer/drive connection (look for "service" connections on late-1990s/early-2000s drives).
In light of these revelations, expect vendors to sell (at a premium of course) drives which can't be "flashed" without setting a physical switch/jumper.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
[bypasses] secure sockets layer protections by modifying the network stack of computers that run its underlying code. Specifically, Komodia installs a self-signed root CA certificate
Picking a nit:
1. Installing a new CA certificate does not modify the network stack. Adding and removing CA certificates is an ordinary operation.
2. All root certificates are self-signed. If your certificate is signed by something else, it's not a root certificate.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Couldn't browsers detect and warn you if you're using a self-signed root CA certificate?
Besides, if it really was Mossad, they'd have done a much better job.
If it was really Mossad they'd be installing the code onto PCs used by their enemies for intelligence gathering. They wouldn't be installing it onto new PCs so they could popup ads for penis enlargement pills.
So many damn funny/insightful posts in this thread, and my points expired at midnight....
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
Not actually true. Ultra-orthodox Jews do not (yet) have to serve in the army.
<sarcasm>After all, the ultra-orthodox never provoke any trouble with the Palestinians, so why should they contribute to defence?</sarcasm>
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
It is more likely that this guy left their services and applied some of the tricks he learned to a commercial purpose - writing a library that allows various spyware / adware libraries to hijack clicks and traffic and inject their own affiliate ids / ads / search results into the response.
No one says it's a good or honourable thing but the primary motivation appears to be money and nothing else. It's still a security threat. It's still utterly reprehensible. But it seems to be the guy enriching his own pocket.
Yea, definitely put 100% of your data in googles cloud. It'll be safe there... /s
It's quite different. Anyone doing work for mossad wouldn't announce it in any way, shape or form whether they took the page down later or not. If they took the page down it might be because they are the centre of a shitstorm at the moment.. You can't rationalize around this because no rationalization makes any sense. Spy agencies would not and do not do this.