These were all purchased directly from Microsoft. Signature Edition Security: Our FindingsĪs part of our project, we purchased Signature Edition laptops manufactured by Hewlett Packard (HP), Asus and Dell.
It’s true that Superfish software wasn’t packaged on Lenovo’s Signature Edition laptops, but what does Signature Edition really mean? Are there other aspects of these devices putting users at risk? As you may have already seen, we have spent some time analyzing the attack surface of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Laptops, including a few Microsoft Signature Edition models. There are a myriad of articles in any language of your choice about Signature Edition, and they all invariably contain a sentence along the lines of, “Microsoft controls the software that ships on these PCs, and they strip out the worst stuff to ensure you have a clean copy of Windows with only useful utilities and drivers,” according to HowToGeek.
In the face of popularized security gaffes like Superfish and eDellroot, consumer-facing technical outlets sing a common refrain: “Microsoft Signature Edition is the way to go!”
