A rare Tuesday post, but this is too important to wait. If you own a Lenovo computer, you need to uninstall the Lenovo Accelerator application. A recent security advisory from Lenovo reveals that the Accelerator application can allow an attacker to access Lenovo computers
“A vulnerability was identified in the Lenovo Accelerator Application software which could lead to exploitation by an attacker with man-in-the-middle capabilities. The vulnerability resides within the update mechanism where a Lenovo server is queried to identify if application updates are available.”
Lenovo recommends uninstalling the application. This application is another example of manufacturer-added bloatware or crapware. These are utilities and trial versions of applications that add little or nothing to functionality and can usually be removed. Accelerator falls in this category, which is why it is not being fixed.
Uninstall the application by going to the Control Panel, Programs and Features applet, and selecting Accelerator from the list and click on the uninstall button. For Windows 8.1 and 10 users, finding the Control Panel can be difficult since Microsoft decided to hide it, but search for “Control Panel” in the Windows or Cortana search box will allow you to find and open this utility.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com