Security researcher Patrick Barker has caught Samsung deliberately disabling Windows Update on Samsung PCs in favor of its own bloatware service:
The problem was spotted by independent security researcher Patrick Barker after a Windows user complained that the Windows Update function, which automatically downloads patches and security fixes from Microsoft, was being randomly disabled.
The culprit turned out to be a piece of code called SWUpdate, which Samsung bundles on its machines to handle driver updates for its hardware. SWUpdate, in turn, runs an executable called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe as part of its standard operations. Guess what that does.
At first, the researchers were concerned that the software might be malware, although it did appear to be signed by Samsung itself. A call to Samsung technical support yielded the following response:
When you enable Windows updates, it will install the Default Drivers for all the hardware [on the] laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates.
Samsung has not replied to The Reg's request for comment but a Microsoft spokesperson emailed us the following statement:
Windows Update remains a critical component of our security commitment to our customers. We do not recommend disabling or modifying Windows Update in any way as this could expose a customer to increased security risks. We are in contact with Samsung to address this issue.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday June 25 2015, @10:05PM
Not every news story is a breaking news story, and we don't run stories much more frequently than 1 per hour.
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