Lenovo is in the midst of a controversy recently as a number
of its customers have reported in a forum that their browser is being injected
by ads much like how adware serves ad when a computer is infected.
The program responsible for injecting the ads was discovered
to be Superfish, a program that analyzes an image using an algorithm and then
provides similar and near identical images in real time without the need for
any text tags or human intervention. The technology was intended for helping
users with shopping by using images as a form of search query.
Superfish is pre-installed by Lenovo at its factory but it
looks like the app has a hole that can install a certificate that allows
outside parties to look at a secure websites users might be visiting (including
those that hold personal information).
Lenovo has already issued a statement saying that they have
already removed the program from their consumer products and have asked the
developers of the program to issue a fix that will address the issue.
