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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."
[Editor's Note: For background information on this threat, Ars Technica has coverage here, here, here, and here.]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 21 2015, @04:14PM
Homeland Security is Exhibit A for how the First American Republic jumped the shark. $41.2 billion annual budget to tell the American people that Superfish is bad, after every other party in the world has already said Superfish is bad. What's next, geniuses, jumping in to tell us that smoking kills? How about that jaywalking across the Dan Ryan is hazardous to your health, or that North Koreans are mean?
The whole department is a creature from Kafka's worst nightmare, a make-work program for degenerates, drooling fiends, and gibbering goons--the very dregs of 21st Century American decrepitude.
Defund Homeland Security, tell its members to self-deport, and strike its very name, an obscenity, from the history books. Un-make it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday February 21 2015, @05:53PM
Hey: Homeland Security:
Where are the instructions for removing spyware from our hard disk controllers?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by davester666 on Sunday February 22 2015, @08:31AM
It isn't spyware if it was placed there by your benevolent government. It is there to help you prove your innocence.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 21 2015, @06:46PM
NK's aren't mean. Their psychotic leader is mean.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday February 21 2015, @11:08PM
As aliens as they seem, the great majority of them - if not all - are US citizens, thus deportation [findlaw.com] is not possible.
As for exporting them or their by-product [wikipedia.org], we'd rather prefer that you actually manage them locally instead of polluting other places.
Signed: the rest of the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Sunday February 22 2015, @04:15AM
Can't we exile them to Botany Bay?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday February 22 2015, @07:40AM
Prime real-estate zone (over half-a-mil for a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 71sqm [realestate.com.au] apartment)? Are you sure you want to punish them?
Or did you have the equiv of a golden parachute in mind, for their services?
No, mate, no. Better put them in road maintenance, surely you have lot of roads that need their pot-holes filled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford