Techmeme: Lenovo CTO admits company “flat-out missed” major security flaws resulting from Superfish (Ina Fried/Re/code)

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February 20, 2015, 10:10 PM

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Ina Fried / Re/code:

Lenovo CTO admits company “flat-out missed” major security flaws resulting from Superfish — Lenovo CTO Admits It ‘Messed Up’ Allowing Major Security Hole Onto PCs — Lenovo's chief technology officer said Friday that the computer maker erred significantly by preinstalling onto consumer PCs …

More: support.lenovo.com, Techdirt, iMore, TechnoBuffalo, SuperSite for Windows, BGR, ZDNet, Windows Central, The Register, Tech Times and The Next Web. Tweets: @normative

Jim Finkle / Reuters:

US Department of Homeland Security urges Lenovo customers to remove Superfish software, citing the risk of SSL spoofing — U.S. government urges Lenovo customers to remove Superfish software — Boxes containing Lenovo desktop computers are seen in an office in Kiev March 12, 2012.

More: US-CERT Alerts, TechCrunch, PC World, The Mac Observer, The Next Web, The Register, Mashable and Bloomberg Business. Tweets: @zackwhittaker

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Superfish doubles down, says HTTPS-busting adware poses no security risk — Denial comes despite near-unanimous agreement that it left Lenovo users wide open. — Following security professionals' near-unanimous condemnation of adware that hijacked encrypted Web connections on Lenovo computers …

More: The Next Web, ZDNet, The LastPass Blog, Techdirt, Engadget, US-CERT, Naked Security, The Verge, Slashdot and Wall Street Journal

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Microsoft updates Windows Defender, its onboard anti-virus software, to remove the Superfish software that was pre-installed on many Lenovo computers — Microsoft has updated Windows Defender to root out the Superfish adware — Microsoft just took a major step towards rooting out the Superfish adware …

Lizzie Plaugic / The Verge:

Lenovo has just released an automatic Superfish removal tool — The company updated its statement on the bug today — Lenovo has released a tool to help users remove Superfish, according to a statement released today by the company. — Superfish is an adware program that was pre-installed …

More: BetaNews, Lenovo, Malwarebytes Unpacked, Digital Trends and The Next Web

Robert McMillan / Wired:

Lenovo's initial statement in response to security and privacy concerns about Superfish was astonishingly clueless

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple will fight iOS bugs with first-ever iOS Public Betas: 8.3 in March, 9 in summer — In an effort to eliminate bugs from upcoming iOS versions ahead of their general releases, Apple plans to launch the first-ever public beta program for the iOS operating system, according to multiple people briefed on the plans.

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Report: Google looks to promote Wallet by paying wireless carriers and sharing mobile ad revenue — Google may pay wireless carriers to revive Google Wallet — Google Wallet has had, at best, a checkered history. Blocked by carriers, it suffered through changing product direction and competition from its own partners.

More: Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, PC World, Droid Life, Pocketnow, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, Gigaom, Phandroid, Digital Trends, AdExchanger, 9to5Google, PhoneDog.com, Android Authority, PYMNTS.com, Android Central, Street Fight and FierceWireless

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Postmates Picks Up $35M In Series C From Spark Capital — Postmates, the on-demand delivery service that operates in nearly 60 markets, has raised $35 million in Series C exclusively from existing investor Spark Capital, according to our sources. — Postmates is a service …

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Twilio Positions Itself for an IPO After Logging $100M Revenue Run Rate … Twilio Inc.'s strategy to woo developers seems to be paying off, with the communications startup reaching a 2014 annual run rate of $100 million, Venture Capital Dispatch has learned.

More: TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE. Tweets: @ssomasegar and @erikadmsf

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet:

In new partnership with Canonical, Microsoft and Amazon will publish their Internet of Things APIs on Ubuntu Core — Canonical partners with Amazon, Microsoft, and others on Internet of Things — Summary:Ubuntu Linux aims to become the glue that holds the Internet of Things together with its new partnerships.

More: Ubuntu Insights and Forbes

Mic Wright / The Next Web:

Kevin Rose's photo and video sharing app Tiiny is shutting down — Kevin Rose announced last month that he's stepped down from Google Ventures to focus on North Technologies, his startup focused on creating new mobile apps. Now it looks like one of the projects it launched last year …

More: Medium and SlashGear. Tweets: @kevinrose and @samfbiddle

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google agrees to allow spot checks at its US headquarters by Italian privacy regulators — Google Agrees to Spot Checks by Italian Privacy Regulators — Google's latest agreement with a European privacy regulator includes spot checks at its U.S. headquarters to monitor how the Internet giant …

More: Italian Data Protection …, BetaNews, 9to5Google, Network World and Reuters

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