Dell Systems Ship with Faulty Root Certificate
Several news sources report that users have discovered a preinstalled digital certificate shipped with Dell Inspiron 5000 series notebooks and the XPS 15 model laptop that could allow an attacker to successfully impersonate a trusted website. The eDellRoot certificate creates a gaping security hole that is similar to the problems created by the Superfish security issue experienced by Lenovo earlier this year.
Some users report that the certificate reinstalls itself when users attempt to remove it, however, Dell has posted instructions that it says will permanently remove eDellRoot. According to the Dell Knowledge Base, “The certificate is not malware or adware. It was intended to provide the system service tag to Dell online support, allowing us to quickly identify the computer model, making it easier and faster to service our customers. This certificate is not being used to collect personal customer information. It’s also important to note that the certificate will not reinstall itself once it is properly removed using the recommended Dell process.”
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