I guess that I am really jaded at this point. But given that Lenovo was caught installing potentially dangerous adware on computers that they sell, you can hardly excuse me for reacting with “I don’t buy the humility act” when I read this story in the Wall Street Journal about what Lenovo plans to do about this fiasco. Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius was interviewed and here’s what he said about what the company was going to do about this adware:
WSJ: What are you doing now to ensure the security of people who bought Lenovo laptops with the Superfish app?
Hortensius: As soon as the programmer is finished, we will provide a tool that removes all traces of the app from people’s laptops; this goes further than simply uninstalling the app. Once the app-wiping software is finished tonight or tomorrow, we’ll issue a press release with information on how to get it.
Great. Though I really wouldn’t trust anything that this company does right now. But that’s my cynical nature entering the equation. He also said this:
WSJ: Do you do due diligence on software you pre-install on Lenovo machines to make sure it’s secure?
Hortensius: Yes, we do. Obviously in this case we didn’t do enough. The intent of loading this tool was to help enhance our users’ shopping experience. The feedback from users was that it wasn’t useful, and that’s why we turned it off. Our reputation is everything and our products are ultimately how we have our reputation.
Except that’s not quite true. It’s more like this:
- Lenovo installed something they should not have on customer’s computers and didn’t tell their customers about it.
- Someone found out about it and the story went viral.
- Lenovo tried to defend it, failed, and pulled the plug to try and make the story go away.
The fact is that this adware should never have been there in the first place. Ever. Either Lenovo doesn’t understand that or refuses to accept that when customers buy computers, they shouldn’t get adware or anything else that could be potentially dangerous as part of the deal.
Oh, you might be interested in their statement on this adware. While it does list the models of Lenovo computers that might have had this software (Question: Should they not know what computers they shipped this software with?), and they state that it was only consumer and not corporate computers that got this software, it does very little to improve my perception of the company.
Lenovo Promises To Get Rid Of Adware It Installed On Computers They Sell
Posted in Commentary with tags Lenovo, Securty on February 20, 2015 by itnerdI guess that I am really jaded at this point. But given that Lenovo was caught installing potentially dangerous adware on computers that they sell, you can hardly excuse me for reacting with “I don’t buy the humility act” when I read this story in the Wall Street Journal about what Lenovo plans to do about this fiasco. Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius was interviewed and here’s what he said about what the company was going to do about this adware:
WSJ: What are you doing now to ensure the security of people who bought Lenovo laptops with the Superfish app?
Hortensius: As soon as the programmer is finished, we will provide a tool that removes all traces of the app from people’s laptops; this goes further than simply uninstalling the app. Once the app-wiping software is finished tonight or tomorrow, we’ll issue a press release with information on how to get it.
Great. Though I really wouldn’t trust anything that this company does right now. But that’s my cynical nature entering the equation. He also said this:
WSJ: Do you do due diligence on software you pre-install on Lenovo machines to make sure it’s secure?
Hortensius: Yes, we do. Obviously in this case we didn’t do enough. The intent of loading this tool was to help enhance our users’ shopping experience. The feedback from users was that it wasn’t useful, and that’s why we turned it off. Our reputation is everything and our products are ultimately how we have our reputation.
Except that’s not quite true. It’s more like this:
The fact is that this adware should never have been there in the first place. Ever. Either Lenovo doesn’t understand that or refuses to accept that when customers buy computers, they shouldn’t get adware or anything else that could be potentially dangerous as part of the deal.
Oh, you might be interested in their statement on this adware. While it does list the models of Lenovo computers that might have had this software (Question: Should they not know what computers they shipped this software with?), and they state that it was only consumer and not corporate computers that got this software, it does very little to improve my perception of the company.
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