NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Juha Saarinen: Lenovo's Superfishing trip

Juha Saarinen
By Juha Saarinen
Tech blogger for nzherald.co.nz.·NZ Herald·
24 Feb, 2015 08:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

If you have a Lenovo laptop and connect to Wi-Fi in cafes, libraries, hotels and someone could snag your HTTPS data. Photo / Thinkstock

If you have a Lenovo laptop and connect to Wi-Fi in cafes, libraries, hotels and someone could snag your HTTPS data. Photo / Thinkstock

Juha Saarinen
Opinion by Juha Saarinen
Tech writer for NZ Herald.
Learn more

Do you have a Lenovo laptop, purchased between September last year and February? If so, it might come with a severe security hole, one that was pre-loaded by Lenovo "to enhance the user experience" as the company put it.

Lenovo partnered with a company called Superfish to install the latter's eponymous adware on a range of laptops - which is probably not what users wanted in the first place, but it gets worse.

Superfish comes with technology that breaks Transport Layer Security - TLS - authenticated and encrypted communications, and intercepts such traffic. Browsers usually display a padlock to show that traffic is secured with TLS and HTTPS when you visit internet banking sites for instance.

The technology comes from another company, Komodia, and is badly done with the same digital certificate across several applications (it's not just Superfish that uses it), making it simple for anyone on the same network as the targets to listen in and modify what users think is secure communication.

Connect to Wi-Fi in cafes, libraries, hotels and someone could snag your HTTPS data.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Normally, there would be a warning from the web browser, but thanks to Komodia that trick the system into accepting any old certificate, everything will look fine.

That's bad enough, but Lenovo made it worse and attempted to play down the legitimate howls of outrage from users and security researchers.

Put it simply, HTTPS forms the foundation of secure web browsing.

There's no excuse for Lenovo or anyone else to tamper with HTTPS or SSL by distributing what appears to be commercialised spyware from companies with a history of annoying users.

Here's how to get rid of the malware: test if Superfish and Komodia are installed on your machine.

Discover more

Opinion

Stock Takes: FMA 'judgment calls' in spotlight

12 Feb 04:00 PM
Business

Google threatens to expose security flaws

12 Feb 07:30 PM
Lifestyle

Cancer not just 'bad luck'

12 Feb 07:35 PM
World

12 ways the world will end

14 Feb 10:02 PM

If you trust Lenovo, the company has released a tool that will automatically delete Superfish and also provides manual removal instructions if you do not.

Several anti-malware applications like Microsoft's Defender that's built into Windows have been updated to recognise and remove Superfish as well.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

As of writing, it's turned out that other companies use Komodia and similar technology to get around TLS/SSL security.

Lenovo is also now being sued in the US for preloading Superfish on customers' computers and that should be a warning to any other company trying similar clever tech tricks.

Gear: LG 34UC97 ultra-wide monitor

I am a curved-screen sceptic, having tried out bent hi-def TVs and quite literally not seen the benefit compared to flat displays when you sit far away from the screens with several people watching.

Close up with computer monitors like LG's ultra-wide 34UC97 the curved screen makes a great deal of sense however.

As the unmemorable moniker implies, the screen measures 34 inches diagonally. It's not a monster screen, or particularly heavy, but it's wide. The native resolution is 3,440 by 1,440 pixels, giving the 34UC97 a 21 to 9 aspect ratio.

It's not 4K but the wide aspect of the screen makes it surprisingly useful for a range of tasks. Curving the long screen slightly towards you is a great idea for single-person use.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Going back to flat, large monitors after the 34UC97 feels a bit odd, actually.

Other useful features that the 34UC97 bring include wide, 99 per cent coverage of the sRGB colour gamut (good for image work), in-plane switching tech for the screen itself with wide viewing angles and good sharpness and contrast.

LG put its MaxxAudio sound system in the 34UC97 with seven watt output too with down-firing speakers, and it's fairly good.

There's a slightly difficult to use upside-down joystick style controller at the bottom of the screen for accessing settings, and two HDMI, two Thunderbolt, one DisplayPort and USB connectors at the back take care of most input needs.

Thanks to the multiple inputs and the wide screen, you can project two different computers displays on the 34UC97. That's instead of having two separate screens, and it's a feature that I found surprisingly useful.

Although it didn't bother me, gamers especially (the 34UC97 has fairly low input lag) will note the screen has only 60Hz refresh rate, and not 120 or 144Hz as some other models do.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Now the not-so-good parts: the recommended retail price for the 34UC97 is $1,999 including GST, although I've seen it for $1,750-$1,800.

You get a fair bit for your money and the 34UC97 is unique, but that's still top dollar.

My sample was a prototype and literally had rough edges around the glass screen that shimmered with reflected light. There was also a gap in the lower right-hand corner that let the LED backlight shine through and which caused light to bleed through screen. I hope flaws like these won't show up in production specimens.

If LG makes sure those flaws are taken care of in retail models, the 34UC97 is worth checking out, high price notwithstanding.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Media Insider

From the heartbreak of losing her husband at just 48, a couple's enduring media legacy

09 May 07:13 PM
Premium
Opinion

Fran O'Sullivan: Political games hinder vital superannuation reform

09 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Mary Holm: Is there are pot of gold waiting for those who invest in non-bank deposits?

09 May 05:00 PM

“Not an invisible footprint”: Why technology supply chains need optimising

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
From the heartbreak of losing her husband at just 48, a couple's enduring media legacy

From the heartbreak of losing her husband at just 48, a couple's enduring media legacy

09 May 07:13 PM

'It allows me to focus on myself and the kids and figure out life without Allan.'

Premium
Fran O'Sullivan: Political games hinder vital superannuation reform

Fran O'Sullivan: Political games hinder vital superannuation reform

09 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Mary Holm: Is there are pot of gold waiting for those who invest in non-bank deposits?

Mary Holm: Is there are pot of gold waiting for those who invest in non-bank deposits?

09 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Noise ban, off-limit interviews: TVNZ's rules as RNZ moves in; Ad agencies take aim at global merger

Noise ban, off-limit interviews: TVNZ's rules as RNZ moves in; Ad agencies take aim at global merger

09 May 10:58 AM
Deposit scheme reduces risk, boosts trust – General Finance
sponsored

Deposit scheme reduces risk, boosts trust – General Finance

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP