By now, many computer users are already aware of the Lenovo Superfish adware that has been infecting consumer PCs. Amid a chorus of negative press, however, it may be difficult to find information on what should be done to protect data from sites merely calling out the company for its mistakes. With that in mind, the following is a shortlist of the essential facts so you can avoid getting drowned in Superfish-related stories:
The Executive Summary
CNet provides one of the best backgrounds on how Lenovo preinstalled its Superfish adware to try to provide a more contextualized online ad-viewing experience. The problem, of course, is that the technology also opened up the door to cybercriminals who also wanted to learn about how and where consumers browse.
The Fix
As Computerworld reported, Lenovo released a tool late last week to remove Superfish from PCs and clean up systems that may be vulnerable to an attack. The company is working with McAfee and Microsoft as part of its effort to contain the fallout from the snafu.
The Reprisal
The company that created the Superfish adware, known as Komodia, said it has since been dealing with its own IT security problems. In particular, it is tackling a distributed denial-of-service attack that has rendered much of its back-end website system inoperable, according to Forbes. It’s difficult not to interpret the incident as a reaction from, or on behalf of, some frustrated Lenovo users.
The Long-Term Impact
Though the onus for dealing with such issues obviously falls on Lenovo, The Register noted that Mozilla is thinking of tackling it at the browser level by blacklisting any root certificates that could cause security problems for users. It’s uncertain whether there will be similar moves from Safari or Google Chrome.
The PR Post-Mortem
In terms of publicity disasters, this is about as bad as it gets for a technology vendor. CIO Today talked to experts to explore the type of effect the Superfish adware will have on Lenovo’s brand reputation and what it could do to potentially rebuild its trust with customers.
It’s also worth noting that concerns around this incident have attracted attention and a warning from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which would like to see users be proactive in ensuring their data is protected, Mashable reported.
As for the inevitable story on how this could happen, the best analysis comes from an interview with Lenovo’s chief technology officer, Peter Hortensius, on Re/Code. In the interview, he basically admits mistakes were made and vows to do better in the future. In other words, even major companies with many resources can be prone to letting security holes open up. Lenovo, however, will probably be forced to discuss this one for some time to come.