Industry Insights

Technology

Your Computer Might Be Sharing Data with its Manufacturer

by | Friday, February 8th, 2019

We hope that you are aware of how much risk spyware can pose to your business. Your business generates, collects, and leverages truly considerable amounts of data each day that is intended for your business only. While spyware that is introduced by a hacker is a bad thing, what if the manufacturer of the device installed a program that pulled data from your machine?

Well, if you have a desktop workstation or laptop that was produced by HP, there’s a good chance that it is happening to you right now.

It appears that software, called HP Touchpoint Analytics, had been bundled in with a Windows Update. This software is a part of the larger HP Touchpoint Manager and sends HP an unknown cache of data from the device daily. According to HP, this is to help relieve “time-consuming tasks of device support and lifecycle management.”

While this may sound like a beneficial service, it still doesn’t explain why HP doesn’t ask for permission to install it.

If you would rather not have a program like this on your business devices, sharing an unknown data sample with HP, it is fortunately simple enough for IT to uninstall. All they have to do is check the Windows Services interface for “HP Touchpoint Analytics Client,” disable it and uninstall it from your installed programs list.

If your IT team needs assistance in adding this to their other responsibilities, Compudata is here to help. Give us a call at 1-855-405-8889 to learn more about how we can give your internal IT resources a helping hand.

A Glimpse Into What Compliance Looks Like for Businesses

Apr 7, 2025 | ,

It’s easy to see all the reasons why you should make data regulations and compliance a priority. After all, you want to ensure you don’t violate the trust and security of your customers, as well as the integrity of your operations. If you make even one mistake, it...

AI Search Isn’t There Yet

Apr 4, 2025 | ,

People do this all the time: if they don’t know an answer, they just make something up that sounds right. It turns out AI has the same bad habit. A Study Put AI Search to the Test, and It Did Not Go Well Researchers at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism (part of...

Remote Work Is Great, but There Are Some Pitfalls

Apr 2, 2025 | ,

Do you have employees working remotely? If you do, the real question is, are you doing everything you can to keep them productive and secure? Remote work is awesome, but it comes with its fair share of risks. Today, we get into how to competently confront them. Remote...

Hiring IT is Hard (Here’s How to Make It Easier)

Mar 28, 2025 | ,

Do you have someone on your staff who can handle most IT-related issues for your business? If not, we’re sure your organization feels it in more ways than one. The issues that come from not having IT help are only made more frustrating when it comes time to find IT...

Let’s Take the Lid Off of CAPTCHA

Mar 21, 2025 | ,

We've officially reached the point where humans have to prove they're, well, human just to access websites. One of the most common ways to do this? CAPTCHA. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It might sound...

Automation Isn’t Always the Best Business Option

Mar 17, 2025 | ,

Automation makes sense from an operations standpoint, and people see this despite the many who advocate for scaling back to save jobs. For every task that can be completed, however, less than half can be automated. When you consider all the tasks that a human might be...

More Reading from Industry Insights:

AI Search Isn’t There Yet

by | Apr 4, 2025 | ,

People do this all the time: if they don’t know an answer, they just make something up that sounds right. It turns out AI has the same bad habit. A Study Put AI Search to the Test, and It Did Not Go Well Researchers at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism (part of...

Hiring IT is Hard (Here’s How to Make It Easier)

by | Mar 28, 2025 | ,

Do you have someone on your staff who can handle most IT-related issues for your business? If not, we’re sure your organization feels it in more ways than one. The issues that come from not having IT help are only made more frustrating when it comes time to find IT...