Many Lenovo users started complaining last year about a piece of adware being pre-installed on their new computers. After a close analysis, experts have determined that the application poses serious security risks.
The culprit appears to be WindowShopper - Discover Visually, a browser add-on developed by visual search company Superfish. The application analyzes images displayed on Web pages and searches for similar or nearly identical items so that users can compare prices and find deals. The add-on basically injects third-party ads into Web pages.
While many users consider it an annoying piece of adware that came with their brand new Lenovo laptop, security experts claim to have found some even more disturbing behaviorthat makes the application similar to malware.
The add-on comes with a local proxy that enables man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. Even more concerning is that Superfish also installs a self-signed root certificate that enables MitM attacks against HTTPS connections. The application can be easily uninstalled, but the certificate is not removed in the process, experts said.
Google security engineer Chris Palmer and TrueCrypt audit project co-founder Kenneth White posted screenshots of the certificate, which seems to be issued to Bank of America.
Mozilla’s Firefox does not appear to be impacted by the MitM issue because the Web browser doesn’t use system certificates.
Superfish could not immediately be reached for comment. Lenovo representatives said they have taken steps to address the issue and pointed out that the problematic application was not installed on all consumer PCs.
“Lenovo removed Superfish from the preloads of new consumer systems in January 2015. At the same time Superfish disabled existing Lenovo machines in market from activating Superfish. Superfish was preloaded onto a select number of consumer models only. Lenovo is thoroughly investigating all and any new concerns raised regarding Superfish,” Lenovo told SecurityWeek.
Read more: http://www.securityweek.com/lenovo-accused-shipping-pcs-adware-breaks-https-browsing
The culprit appears to be WindowShopper - Discover Visually, a browser add-on developed by visual search company Superfish. The application analyzes images displayed on Web pages and searches for similar or nearly identical items so that users can compare prices and find deals. The add-on basically injects third-party ads into Web pages.
While many users consider it an annoying piece of adware that came with their brand new Lenovo laptop, security experts claim to have found some even more disturbing behaviorthat makes the application similar to malware.
The add-on comes with a local proxy that enables man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. Even more concerning is that Superfish also installs a self-signed root certificate that enables MitM attacks against HTTPS connections. The application can be easily uninstalled, but the certificate is not removed in the process, experts said.
Google security engineer Chris Palmer and TrueCrypt audit project co-founder Kenneth White posted screenshots of the certificate, which seems to be issued to Bank of America.
Mozilla’s Firefox does not appear to be impacted by the MitM issue because the Web browser doesn’t use system certificates.
Superfish could not immediately be reached for comment. Lenovo representatives said they have taken steps to address the issue and pointed out that the problematic application was not installed on all consumer PCs.
“Lenovo removed Superfish from the preloads of new consumer systems in January 2015. At the same time Superfish disabled existing Lenovo machines in market from activating Superfish. Superfish was preloaded onto a select number of consumer models only. Lenovo is thoroughly investigating all and any new concerns raised regarding Superfish,” Lenovo told SecurityWeek.
Read more: http://www.securityweek.com/lenovo-accused-shipping-pcs-adware-breaks-https-browsing
