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tonyPick writes:

Spotted on HackerNews is a link to a report that Lenovo is installing adware onto new computers, which hijacks network traffic.

The adware, named Superfish, is reportedly installed on a number of Lenovo’s consumer laptops out of the box. The software injects third-party ads on Google searches and websites without the user’s permission.

Superfish appears to affect Internet Explorer and Google Chrome on these Lenovo computers.

Specifically it appears to be performing a MITM attack by pre-installing a proxy server and an associated root certificate.

The above article has been updated to note:

Update: Mozilla Firefox does not appear to be affected by the SSL man-in-the-middle issue, because it maintains its own certificate store.

Original HackerNews discussion thread, plus additional coverage at Techspot and ZDNet.