Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by jldugger on Thursday November 29, 2018 @02:28AM
(#18558670)
> 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.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by na85 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @06:55AM
(#18559571)
Wasn't their shitty bios rewriting parts of windows? Vanilla OS images won't save you there.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by opencl on Thursday November 29, 2018 @09:29AM
(#18560352)
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.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by Spivak on Thursday November 29, 2018 @10:14AM
(#18560743)
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.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by LiterallyDoge on Thursday November 29, 2018 @10:53AM
(#18561051)
Apple seems interested in keeping things fairly secure, is this a theoretical fear or an exploit I've never heard of?
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by pknomad on Thursday November 29, 2018 @11:08AM
(#18561207)
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.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by krylon on Thursday November 29, 2018 @02:36AM
(#18558695)
> 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?!?"
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by scarface74 on Thursday November 29, 2018 @08:23AM
(#18559972)
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.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by SmellyGeekBoy on Thursday November 29, 2018 @04:35AM
(#18559070)
Hasn't this kind of thing been going on for years though?
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by lmcarreiro on Thursday November 29, 2018 @05:39AM
(#18559293)
Big companies usually already have their enterprise customized image of the OS, when they buy hardware, they are interested only in the hardware.
Re:Lenovo to pay $7.3M for installing adware in laptops
by shakna on Friday November 30, 2018 @01:09AM
(#18567115)
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
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/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.