Just In Time For The Holidays: HP Is Back To Monitoring Their Customers

[TheBlackAdder]

.


HP Is Back To Monitoring Their Customers

HP has apparently forgotten their customers reaction to discovering that the audio driver installed on their machines included a keylogger and are back to silently collecting data. A new update is installing a telemetry program on their machines, though it is not yet clear if the update is included in a Windows Update or if it comes via HP's Support Assistant. The good news is that The Inquirer linked to an easy way to uninstall the HP Touchpoint Analytics Service if you happen to have it.

"According to a report at ComputerWorld the sneaky software, which was first identified on 15 November, is dubbed 'HP Touchpoint Analytics Service', which HP itself says "harvests telemetry information that is used by HP Touchpoint's analytical services."

https://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/HP-back-monitoring-their-customers


====


HP accused of sneakily installing system-slowing spyware onto its PCs
Customers slam firm over 'CPU gobbling nonsense'

According to a report at ComputerWorld the sneaky software, which was first identified on 15 November, is dubbed 'HP Touchpoint Analytics Service', which HP itself says "harvests telemetry information that is used by HP Touchpoint's analytical services."

A user on the Bleeping Computer forums first spotted the software, saying: "After the latest batch of Windows updates, about a half hour after installing the last, I noticed that this had been installed on my computer because it showed up in the notes of my Kaspersky, and that it opened the Windows Dump File verifier and ran a disk check and battery test."

This comment, as ComputerWorld notes, points the finger squarely at Windows updates. However, it remains unclear as to whether Microsoft or HP is at fault.

Regardless, given that HP made no effort to ask users for permission before the software was dumped on their PC, it's no surprise that complaints have since flooded the company's own forums, where users have moaned that the software is slowing down their system.

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3022069/hp-accused-of-sneakily-installing-system-slowing-spyware-onto-its-pcs

.

[yallerdawg]

1. Shit.

There goes my future as a politician.

They can't watch me with that little camera eye up there can they?

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Perhaps, but the neighborhood kid down the street probably is. Smile :-)

[yallerdawg]

3. If we've learned anything the last few years it's that...

the internet and privacy are a thing of the "distant" past.

They're probably selling our 'key strokes' on the dark web right now.

SSN's, account numbers, passwords, vital stats.

After they've been done is when people get off the grid. It's bound to happen, including just stealing identities!

Targeted marketing and news feeds is probably the least nefarious things they can do!

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

[Marie Marie]

5. Thank you so much for posting this BlackAdder..

I just removed it!