Lenovo Releases Official Statement On Superfish Issue, They Stopped Preloading The Software In January

Earlier today we reported about Lenovo installing adware in their new consumer PCs. This adware named Superfish inserts third-party ads on Google searches and websites without the user’s permission. Now, Lenovo has provided a detailed statement on this issue. Key takeaway from their statement is that this Superfish was stopped from pre-loading on new PCs in January and they have disabled server side interactions as well.

Read the full statement below.

Superfish was previously included on some consumer notebook products shipped in a short window between September and December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping.  However, user feedback was not positive, and we responded quickly and decisively:

1. Superfish has completely disabled server side interactions (since January) on all Lenovo products so that the product is no longer active.  This disables Superfish for all products in market.
2. Lenovo stopped preloading the software in January.
3. We will not preload this software in the future.

We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns.  But we know that users reacted to this issue with concern, and so we have taken direct action to stop shipping any products with this software.  We will continue to review what we do and how we do it in order to ensure we put our user needs, experience and priorities first.

To be clear, Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile nor monitor user behavior.  It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted.   Every session is independent. Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product.  The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was to enhance the experience for users.  We recognize that the software did not meet that goal and have acted quickly and decisively.

We are providing support on our forums for any user with concerns.  Our goal is to find technologies that best serve users.  In this case, we have responded quickly to negative feedback, and taken decisive actions to ensure that we address these concerns.  If users still wish to take further action, detailed information is available at http://forums.lenovo.com.