[eye30]

 Dell has admitted some of its computers were sold with an unintentional software flaw that could leave personal information vulnerable to attackers.

The affected PCs and laptops shipped with a security flaw – a pre-installed self-signed root certificate authority called eDellRoot, which includes a private key.

Root certificates are used to confirm websites are safe. Criminals could potentially access the key and intercept information sent over a web connection, getting details such as user passwords and usernames.

If you own a Dell, you can find out if you’ve been affected by doing the following: Start - type "certmgr.msc" - (accept on UAC prompt) - Trusted Root Certification Authorities -> Certificates, and looking for ‘eDellRoot.’

Dell admits security hole in some PCs and laptops that could leave machines vunerable to hackers - BT