Lenovo Caught Installing Adware on New Computers
This is much worse than just installing adware. They install a web proxy which MITMs all web connections, including HTTPS by means of a pre-installed trusted root certificate.The root certificate is the same across all installs, and the private key is present on the machine (necessarily, to operate the proxy):
https://twitter.com/fugueish/status/568258997578371072Someone will extract the private key in the next few hours, and then HTTPS will be basically completely broken for all Lenovo users -- anyone will be able to spoof any site to them.Uninstalling the app does NOT remove the certificate: https://twitter.com/metsfan/status/568265468173107200On the bright side, Firefox does not use the system certificates (it has its own list) and Chrome will no doubt push an update to block the certificate promptly.