Superfish suit
Lenovo is sued in Federal Court for pre-installing Superfish spyware on personal computers, allegedly violating the Federal Wiretap Act. Lead plaintiff Jessica N. Bennett:
…it takes up bandwidth over an Internet connection, uses up memory on a computer, causes the loss of data, compromises computer security features and frustrates computer users.
Superfish fix
Lenovo releases a tool to remove Superfish adware.
We are working with McAfee and Microsoft to have the Superfish software and certificate quarantined or removed using their industry-leading tools and technologies. These actions have already started and will automatically fix the vulnerability even for users who are not currently aware of the problem.
Security measures announced
Lenovo announces future security measures after Superfish complaints.
Now, we are in the midst of developing a concrete plan to address software vulnerabilities and security with defined actions that we will share by the end of the week. What I can say about this today is that we are exploring a wide range of options that include: creating a cleaner PC image (the operating system and software that is on your device right out of the box); working directly with users, privacy/security experts and others to create the right preload strategy quickly; and soliciting and assessing the opinions of even our harshest critics in evaluating our products going-forward.
Combats Superfish
Lenovo offers a six-month subscription to Intel’s McAfee LiveSafe to customers with laptops infected with pre-installed Superfish adware. Lenovo:
This should eliminate what our industry calls ‘adware’ and ‘bloatware’.