Hundreds of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) laptops have been found with pre-installed hidden software that records every letter typed on its keyboard.
Michael Myng, a security researcher, was the one who discovered the code that had been preinstalled on the laptops in order to make the specific keyboard work. The company has reported that more than 460 models of its laptops have been affected.
Since the discovery, they are offering a software patch for its customers to remove the specific keylogger.
This issue currently affects the EliteBook, ProBook, Pavilion, and Envy, among a few others. The full list of affected laptops have been reported on its website and is dating back to 2012 models.
Mr. Myng uncovered this keylogger when inspecting the Synaptics Touchpad Software installed on most HP laptops, to figure out how to control the keyboard backlight on an HP Laptop. He says that the keylogger was disabled by default but an attacker could easily turn it on and record what the users types.
According to HP, it was originally built to help troubleshoot errors and they acknowledge that is could have lead to “loss of confidentiality” and neither company has any access to user information.
Featured Image: twitter
