Tools Toys and Technology

About the Tools You Use and the Toys That Make Life Interesting

Tools Toys and Technology - About the Tools You Use and the Toys That Make Life Interesting

These PUPs Are Not Cute!

Lenovo, the largest PC vendor in the world, found itself melting under a spotlight recently. In September 2014, Lenovo accepted approximately $250,000 to bundle Superfish Inc VisualDiscovery on its computers. The software inserts advertisements into Google search results that will “add to the user experience”.

Unfortunately, Superfish used inadequately protected encryption certificates constructed by Kommodia; this enables cyberattacks to readily intercept passwords and sensitive data. On February 20, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security advised uninstalling Superfish and any of its associated root certificates from about 16 million Lenovo computers built between September 2014 and January 2015. Go to https://filippo.io/Badfish/ to see if you are infected. Search for “remove Superfish” in your browser for useful cleanup software.

Continue reading