5 ms·

The article mentions another $7M worth of fines, and that's just for the US. Also, they sold their customers pretty cheap, so the combined fines likely signifi

The article mentions another $7M worth of fines, and that's just for the US. Also, they sold their customers pretty cheap, so the combined fines likely significantly exceed the profit from the deal: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/02/27/lenovo-got-very-little-from-superfish-deal/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/02/27/lenov... While I do think the punishment should be significantly more severe (including jail time for executives), I suspect the scandal has made companies aware that this is a bad idea. I still don't get why it didn't hurt them more in the enterprise space (read: why large companies didn't institute a strict "no lenovo" policy for a couple years). That would have been way more effective than fines.

jldugger 8y ago
> I still don't get why it didn't hurt them more in the enterprise space (read: why large companies didn't institute a strict "no lenovo" policy for a couple years). That would have been way more effective than fines. Using vendor OS images is a rookie mistake in the first place.
- na85 8y ago
  Wasn't their shitty bios rewriting parts of windows? Vanilla OS images won't save you there.
  - opencl 8y ago
    Yes, Windows has a feature called Microsoft Windows Platform Binary Table that allows the OEM to embed any executable file they want into the UEFI image which is then automatically run on every boot. Extremely terrifying backdoor mechanism.
    - Spivak 8y ago
      Not half as scary as Apple's DEP program. Pretty much everyone is moving this way because it's super convenient for admins -- devices arrive out of the box working and configured. Google has "Zero Touch", Samsung as their Knox program.
      - pknomad 8y ago
        I don’t understand about your point about Apple DEP. could you clarify? It’s predominantly used on company-owned laptops and requires an Apple company account or developer license to work. I haven’t seen it used for consumer computers.
      - LiterallyDoge 8y ago
        Apple seems interested in keeping things fairly secure, is this a theoretical fear or an exploit I've never heard of?
krylon 8y ago
> I suspect the scandal has made companies aware that this is a bad idea. I kind of wonder how many people were like, "pre-install adware on PCs? Why didn't I think of that?!?"
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Hasn't this kind of thing been going on for years though?
- scarface74 8y ago
  Preinstalled crapware for Windows based PCs has been the norm since I can remember - along with physical crapware stickers. When I buy PCs, I only buy either the business line from Dell or from the MS store.
lmcarreiro 8y ago
Big companies usually already have their enterprise customized image of the OS, when they buy hardware, they are interested only in the hardware.
- shakna 8y ago
  And the Windows Platform Binary Table let Lenovo put it back on the drive via UEFI at boot. [0] [0] https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013 https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013

jldugger 8y ago

> I still don't get why it didn't hurt them more in the enterprise space (read: why large companies didn't institute a strict "no lenovo" policy for a couple years). That would have been way more effective than fines. Using vendor OS images is a rookie mistake in the first place.

na85 8y ago
Wasn't their shitty bios rewriting parts of windows? Vanilla OS images won't save you there.
- opencl 8y ago
  Yes, Windows has a feature called Microsoft Windows Platform Binary Table that allows the OEM to embed any executable file they want into the UEFI image which is then automatically run on every boot. Extremely terrifying backdoor mechanism.
  - Spivak 8y ago
    Not half as scary as Apple's DEP program. Pretty much everyone is moving this way because it's super convenient for admins -- devices arrive out of the box working and configured. Google has "Zero Touch", Samsung as their Knox program.
    - pknomad 8y ago
      I don’t understand about your point about Apple DEP. could you clarify? It’s predominantly used on company-owned laptops and requires an Apple company account or developer license to work. I haven’t seen it used for consumer computers.
    - LiterallyDoge 8y ago
      Apple seems interested in keeping things fairly secure, is this a theoretical fear or an exploit I've never heard of?

krylon 8y ago

> I suspect the scandal has made companies aware that this is a bad idea. I kind of wonder how many people were like, "pre-install adware on PCs? Why didn't I think of that?!?"

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
Hasn't this kind of thing been going on for years though?
scarface74 8y ago
Preinstalled crapware for Windows based PCs has been the norm since I can remember - along with physical crapware stickers. When I buy PCs, I only buy either the business line from Dell or from the MS store.

lmcarreiro 8y ago

Big companies usually already have their enterprise customized image of the OS, when they buy hardware, they are interested only in the hardware.

shakna 8y ago
And the Windows Platform Binary Table let Lenovo put it back on the drive via UEFI at boot. [0] [0] https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013 https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013