Lenovo to pay $3.5mn in settlements for compromising users' security

Laptop maker Lenovo has agreed to pay $3.5 million and make changes on how it sells laptops in order to settle allegations that it sold devices with pre-loaded software that compromised users' security, according to a Reuters report.

The software, called VisualDiscovery, was installed on hundreds of thousands of laptops beginning in August 2014 in order to deliver pop-up advertisements. The software also blocked browsers from warning users when they tried to access malicious websites. FTC said that the software was able to access customer's sensitive information such as the Social Security number, login credentials, medical information and financial information. That information was not sent to Superfish, which sold VisualDiscovery.

The software appears to affect Internet Explorer and Google Chrome in Lenovo laptops sold between September 2014 and July 2015.

“While Lenovo disagrees with allegations contained in these complaints, we are pleased to bring this matter to a close after 2-1/2 years,” the company said. As part of the settlement, Lenovo agreed to get consumers’ consent before installing this type of software, the FTC said. Lenovo said that it has introduced a policy that limits the number of pre-installed software it can load on the device.