Lenovo owns up to ‘Superfish’ with free virus protection software offer

By Krystle Vermes March 9, 2015

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Lenovo, which started shipping out computers with preloaded adware known as “Superfish” back in September 2014, is officially backtracking. The company is now offering six months of the McAfee LiveSafe Program free to Lenovo customers, or a free six-month extension to existing McAfee subscribers, who own a “Superfish” computer. This is in addition to the 30-day trial of the software, so new users can expect to acquire up to seven months of use.

“Superfish” is known to intercept HTTP and HTTPS communications to display targeted advertisements to users. Worse, it replaces the security certificates normally used by websites with its own security certificate, making it possible that hackers could compromise the false certificate and imposter secure websites. Lenovo, which had been calling the ads “helpful recommendations,” is now looking to make amends for the troublesome software.

Related: Lenovo’s CTO apologizes for Superfish debacle

Lenovo has posted a list of the systems that may have come with “Superfish” preloaded onto them:

G Series: G410, G510, G710, G40-70, G50-70, G40-30, G50-30, G40-45, G50-45
U Series: U330P, U430P, U330Touch, U430Touch, U530Touch
Y Series: Y430P, Y40-70, Y50-70
Z Series: Z40-75, Z50-75, Z40-70, Z50-70
S Series: S310, S410, S40-70, S415, S415 Touch, S20-30, S20-30 Touch
Flex Series: Flex 2 14D, Flex 2 15D, Flex 2 14, Flex 2 15, Flex 2 14(BTM), Flex 2 15(BTM), Flex 10
MIIX Series: MIIX 2-8, MIIX 2-10, MIIX 2-11
YOGA Series: YOGA 2 Pro-13, YOGA 2-13, YOGA 2-11BTM, YOGA 2-11HSW
E Series: E10-30

McAfee LiveSafe is a cross-device security solution designed to protect users from identify theft. Devices are protected from malware and viruses through LiveSafe. The free software offer is slated to go live by March 16, 2015, and Lenovo computers can learn more about registering for the free trial on the company website.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Krystle Vermes is a professional writer, blogger and podcaster with a background in both online and print journalism. Her…

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