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Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

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Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#371

Post by tomjen3 »

Animats wrote: post #197

The Javascript code shown connects to " https://www.superfish.com/ws/" . WHOIS for "superfish.com" gives names and addresses of people in Palo Alto, CA and in Israel. The other URL in the code is " https://www.best-deals-products.com/ws/sf_preloader.jsp" . That domain is being blocked by some DNS services right now, but it's up. It's a Domains by Proxy domain. That code is worth reading. You can tell what it's lookin…

Are we absolutely sure that is the company involved? whois superfish.com gives both his personal email and telephone number. I want to share them on twitter, but not unless we are absolutely sure.

Fuck that guy and the company he rode in on.

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#372

Post by danielweber »

cm2187 wrote: post #337
danielweber wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the purpose of pinning is to stop a compromised CA from issuing their own www.google.com cert. If someone installs a CA, Chrome will trust it. There's not much way around this: if someone has the capability to install a CA on your computer, they'd have the capability to modify chrome.exe to force acceptance of it. Also, sometimes MITM'ing is desired. I'm doing it right now with Firefox and BurpSuite.

I think the problem is rather giving a false sentiment of security to the unsuspecting user.

Chrome could display a notice reminding users that it's an executable that can be compromised by other programs. But those other programs could also delete that notice.

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#373

Post by bhayden »

boothead wrote: post #247
deafbybeheading wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A colleague uses the Dell XPS 13 and it's pretty good; I'm eyeing that for my next machine.

Watch out, batter life is pretty crap! (About 2 hrs on my < 2yr old one)

The ones just released have a 15 hour battery (which even if it halves, is pretty good)

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#374

Post by lkbm »

userbinator wrote: post #349
mahouse wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

` https://www.best-deals-products.com/' sounds like the classic online store that will steal your CC :-)

I wonder how many people would find the domain name suspicious - I instinctively felt "this sounds scammy to me" when I saw that name, but can't quite explain exactly to someone else how I got that feeling. Perhaps the keywords "best", "deal" and "product" raised the red flags for me, and it's an instinct acquired by many years of being online.

If the company/website name consists entirely of SEO keywords, run?

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#375

Post by kayoone »

mikegioia wrote: post #310
djur wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had great experiences with the ThinkPad T420, but after this news I'll likely never be buying a Lenovo product again. A damn shame.

The T420 is, in my opinion, the last known good computer that Lenovo put out. I bought one in 2011 and still use it (sparingly) today. That is a rock solid laptop with a fantastic touchpad/keyboard. We bought T440s a year or two later and both were just abysmal. The trackpad, the keyboard, everything is crappy and fails to work properly. No one at our company would use them and they sit in a closet now. I've been mon…

You will find a lot of people who say things like: The [insert laptop model here] is, in my opinion, the last known good computer that [insert laptop brand here] put out. In the end it's just that, a personal opinion.

I have read similar things about basically every laptop(heck even cars, TVs, Fridges) brand in existence.

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#376

Post by foodstances »

tombrossman wrote: post #269
jgrahamc wrote: post #18

Can someone with one of these laptops connect to https://www.howsmyssl.com/ and post what it says? I'm curious what cipher suites are used from the proxy to the real site.

First thing I did when I saw that URL was to run it through Qualys' SSL Labs test. Multiple issues, no forward secrecy, weak ciphers, grade set to 'C'. Oh, the irony. https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=howsmyssl.com

Uh, because it needs to allow weak clients to connect in order to report on them?

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#377

Post by nkcpiytdhauwuhc »

larzang wrote: post #92
superuser2 wrote: post #73

Lenovo was the last respected PC laptop brand. Is there anyone I can trust to sell me a well-made laptop anymore besides Apple?

Clevo makes high quality laptops that are also very reasonably priced when bought barebones from the right vendor (they don't do direct consumer sales). Sager, System76, FalconNW, and a whole bunch of other boutique laptop companies are actually selling rebadged/modified Clevos.

I have one of these. It feels very cheap and plastic. Definitely lacks the polish of a MacBook.

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#378

Post by lkbm »

ertdfgcb wrote: post #128
erikschoster wrote: post #93

I don't see myself ever bothering to keep the default windows install on a thinkpad but this really hurts my impression of the company regardless. I've had my eye on the new X1s and had planned to upgrade my X201 this year but now I'm having second thoughts. Who if anyone has taken over the place of great laptop for linux / development?

I don't know about dev, but here are three linux computer/laptop companies in descending order of how nice their websites look: https://system76.com/ https://zareason.com/shop/Laptops/ https://www.thinkpenguin.com/

I bought a Bonobo in 2011. The fan's loud sometimes nowadays, and the battery's kinda shot (mostly because it's old, but also because it's trying to run a 17" 8-core beast), but it's still my primary machine nearly four years later.

They're basically rebranded Sagers/Clevos, I believe, so you may be able to get essentially the same machine for a little less money, but weigh that against supporting a Linux laptop seller.

Re: Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers

#379

Post by noisy_boy »

bigbugbag wrote: post #249
SwellJoe wrote: post #76

Jebus, how far the might IBM laptop line has fallen under the leadership of Lenovo. There was a time when a ThinkPad was arguably the best laptop money could buy. Many companies, including Google, would offer a choice between a ThinkPad or a MacBook, because those were the really reliable choices that were free of shovelware. I even considered buying a Lenovo recently when a pretty nice looking ThinkPad was on sale,…

I can attest that thinkpad quality is on the decline, linux support too (not mentioning the stupidity of experimenting with new ways of doing keyboards[1]) but it's not that bad yet. Hardware is good, in case of trouble on-site warranty works well (once you've learned your way through the ibm website). Be informed about what you buy, skip the comically broken models (see adaptive keyboard) use common sense and your t…

This keyboard screwup was one of the reasons I went to Dell E series instead of Lenovo Thinkpad. If you are a heavy keyboard user, not providing dedicated Function keys is a big no-no. It is not about saving space either; my dell E7240 is only 12.5 inches but manages to have a fully functional keyboard. Besides, outstanding keyboard was a big part of the Thinkpad - what were they thinking mucking around with that?
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