Samsung caught selling new computers with a keylogger (update: it was a false positive)

[Guest]

Formatting new laptops doesn't really help. The keylogger could come with your "chipset driver", your "display driver" or whatever apps the manufacturer is offering you to "increase performance of the system and battery life".

 

[St1ckM4n]

^-- Formatting gets rid of this bloatware, and only installs via Windows Update..?

 

[Burty117]

This is why I always buy a new hard drive with every laptop I buy or recommend to a friend, plus I buy a decent spec one as well

To guest saying it could come with a driver package, if that is true then Samsung really are breaking the law but I doubt it is in a driver package.

 

[Kibaruk]

Not only that Burty117 but also the hardware manufacturer and driver supporter would be as well.

 

[Mizzou]

Here's a quick article on ZdNet reporting that this is a false positive Samsung 'keylogger' is a GFI VIPRE antivirus false-positive. If there really is anything to this, we should know today unless the key logger software was only installed on these two laptops.

 

[yRaz]

This is why I will always build my own. When I bought my laptop the first thing I did was format it.

1) no bloatware
2) don't have to worry about this kind of bull.

 

[mosu]

Samsung is becoming the new Sony...

 

[xempler]

Their excuse smells fishy to me. Why risk getting sued and paying millions in fines for some marketing data. I think there's more to this story or someone is lying.

 

[Guest]

please please please tell me there is a class action law suit against these azz clowns.
that is soooooo wrong.
they need to pay.

 

[Guest]

They should take down this article and apologize for Samsung as it was found out that this was a load of BS.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/31/samsung-reportedly-installing-keylogger-software-on-r525-privac/

 

[Guest]

Read this

http://www.samsungtomorrow.com/1071

(Gullibilty and paranoia still seem alive and well)

 

[Guest]

@Techspot

Remember - tomorrow - is April Fools Day

Journalism standards ?

 

[ET3D]

I agree. Where did "Samsung admitted to installing StarLogger" come from? I followed this story on several sites, and the only place it got mentioned is here (though it might have been taken from somewhere). Considering that it turns out that StarLogger wasn't installed, I doubt that Samsung admitted to that, so it looks like it's pure libel.

 

[ET3D]

Sorry, my bad. The engadget story does say a company representative admitted to it.

 

[Guest]

This post requires an update since the findings reported have been proven to be incorrect. There is no need to get all upset with Samsung, and this little mistake (not TechSpot's fault, mind you, but VIPRE's) is costing Samsung some serious PR.

 

[EDO219]

hm ... here's what I have found across the web:

- The Samsung representative who "admitted" to the existence of a keylogger was a supervisor of a help desk call center. Perhaps my reason for pointing this out is purely anecdotal evidence, but I have met many help desk supervisors who are woefully misinformed. Furthermore, I find it unlikely that a truly knowledgeable representative of Samsung would admit to such a thing if it were true.

- Mr. Hassan has not described his methodology, that I am aware of. He tested only two Samsung laptops (one R525 and one R540), but which software did he use and when did he use it in respect to first turning on the machines?

- Why hasn't Mr. Hassan addressed Samsung's claim that his findings were a false positive incurred by a Windows Live folder (SL) for the Slovene language?

- Others have attempted to replicate Mr Hassan's findings, yet I have seen none which have found StarLogger on any model of Samsung laptop.

 

[nismo91]

http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/samsung-laptops-do-not-have-keylogger.html

VIPRE team apologizes for the false positive, what a shame. kudos back to Samsung.

 

[matrix86]

Yes Techspot, y'all do need to do an update article. I'm sure there are many who have read your article and turned away from Samsung, but have not read the comments here showing that there wasn't a keylogger installed.

nismo91 posted a link to VIPRE's apology, but i'll do it again:
Samsung Laptops do not have a keylogger (and it was our fault

And from another site:
Samsung keylogger is a GFI VIPRE antivirus false positive

 

[BrianUMR]

Yeah techspot you should really do a better article update and change the title of the article.

 

[Zilpha]

I agree - I forwarded this article around the office already and a title change is in order - not just an (update) addendum. It's incredibly misleading (the update really could mean anything).

 

[EDO219]

haha Come on now, you can't just add "(update)" to an article's title that is still an unknown at best! Making this article's title into a question would suffice. For example, add the word "Was" at the beginning and a question mark at the end.

Imagine for a moment how the current title would appear if it were describing a different crime. haha

"Barack Obama caught stealing candy from a baby (update)"

 

[matrix86]

Yeah, adding "update: it was false positive" is kind of a lazy way out. You guys are here to educate us. People need to know what went on, what went wrong. I know some of us posted links to articles but it's not realy our job. I'm not meaning to tell you guys how to do your job, i just want to make sure Techspot stays a reliable source of news. I love the site and i love the articles, but this is not the way to do a proper update...just sayin. It's not a good way to keep subscribers.

Sorry to be so forward, but as a heavy techspot user, i want to be sure i'm getting current, accurate, and up to date info. And i want to be sure i'm getting the whole story, even if that includes you linking me to another article. I may not like that you're doing that, but at least i'm gerting the full story.

And now i step off of my soap box, lol.

 

[gwailo247]

matrix86 said:
Yeah, adding "update: it was false positive" is kind of a lazy way out. You guys are here to educate us. People need to know what went on, what went wrong. I know some of us posted links to articles but it's not realy our job. I'm not meaning to tell you guys how to do your job, i just want to make sure Techspot stays a reliable source of news. I love the site and i love the articles, but this is not the way to do a proper update...just sayin. It's not a good way to keep subscribers.

Sorry to be so forward, but as a heavy techspot user, i want to be sure i'm getting current, accurate, and up to date info. And i want to be sure i'm getting the whole story, even if that includes you linking me to another article. I may not like that you're doing that, but at least i'm gerting the full story.

And now i step off of my soap box, lol.

+1, this deserved a new article, pretty big news considering the initial comments.

 

[Guest]

It is disturbing to see how gullible people are. The initial reaction to this is typical of mob violence launched against innocent people based on a rumor. People really need to think things through and look for possible explanations of reports like this before circling the wagons.

 

[Greg S]

Ooops....

I guess someone jumped the gun a little on this one.