Lenovo Installed Software On Laptops That Persisted After Complete Wipes

An anonymous reader writes: The Next Web has confirmed reports from owners of Lenovo laptops that the company used a BIOS feature to install its software on the laptops even if a user wiped a device clean and reinstalled the operating system. "If Windows 7 or 8 is installed, the BIOS of the laptop checks 'C:\Windows\system32\autochk.exe' to see if it's a Microsoft file or a Lenovo-signed one, then overwrites the file with its own. Then, when the modified autochk file is executed on boot, another two files LenovoUpdate.exe and LenovoCheck.exe are created, which set up a service and download files when connected to the internet." Lenovo has published a patch to remove this functionality. The article notes that this technique seems to be sanctioned by a Microsoft policy. "Manufacturers are obligated to ensure that the mechanism can be updated if an attack is discovered and should be removable by the user, but the rules outlined in the document are fairly loose and don't require the OEM to notify the owner of the laptop that such a mechanism is in place."

Comments

China ...

[gstoddart]

Sorry, but this is what happens when you let a country under the sway of a totalitarian government build you computers.

However, as almost every other government more or less demands the same thing ... this as the new normal.

You can (and should) be outraged. But the fact that governments want back doors for everything is pretty clear.

I see this as precisely no different from the US tapping the telecom systems of other countries. People claim it's their right, and then get all freaked out when someone else does it.

Sorry, but fascism and the surveillance state is a creeping cancer on the whole world.