Your Smart TV could be hacked a lot more easily than you might think

Your Smart TV could be hacked a lot more easily than you might think

Your smart TV may know exactly what Netflix show you want to watch at the end of a long day, but it could also be letting hackers know more than you want them to about well, you. As first reported by Ars Technica, there's a new hack whose proof of concept suggests that terrestrial radio signals could be used to take control of a large swath of Smart TV sets without having actual physical access to any one of them.

In the demonstration of the hack, security consultant Rafael Scheel used a cheap transmitter to embed malicious commands into a rogue TV signal, Ars reports. When that signal is broadcast to devices in the vicinity, it's able to gain access to the televisions. The key to the attack is the exploitation of two documented security flaws in the Web browsers that run in the background of the TV models used in the test -- both manufactured by Samsung. But that doesn't mean that other sets are immune -- if the attack were engineered to target other browser bugs, it would likely be just as effective.

"Once a hacker has control over the TV of an end user, he can harm the user in a variety of ways," Scheel told Ars. "Among many others, the TV could be used to attack further devices in the home network or to spy on the user with the TV's camera and microphone." Indeed, in Scheel's demonstration, he was able to remotely control and the TV, and even rebooting and resetting the device didn't lock him out of the smart appliance.

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of Scheel's proof of concept is that a hacker wouldn't need any physical access to any of the devices. That means that a hacker could control a much larger number of smart TVs, too. And as an increasing number of concerns are raised about smart home devices overall, this demonstration certainly serves to underscore our vulnerability. "This research is significant because TVs are used by a fundamentally different demographic than computers," Yossef Oren, a security researcher told Ars. "People who use TVs don't know/care about security, they aren't used to getting security prompts from their TVs, they don't have the discipline of installing security updates, and so on."

Reply to
burfordTjustice
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My poor old CRT sets have no network connectivity and no web browsers so I guess I won't be joining in the "fun."

Reply to
Roger Blake

Granted, my crt sets are all dead and buried, but, none of the new sets have the features required to do this crap. NONE of them are on the internet, for starters. I don't need a 'smart tv' to watch netflix. ROFL.

Reply to
Diesel

That is true. I have had a PC hooked up to at least one TV since the late 90s. When streaming became a thing, I was ready to roll. Before that it was MY DVD and MP3 player (hooked to a sound system)

Reply to
gfretwell

We believe you. The NSA reports verify your claim.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

:) We think alike in some aspects.

Reply to
Diesel

My biggest problem with the "smart TV" that we have is the miserable ability to connect to my PCs on the network. Right now we have to "sneaker net" the movies I have on my server to the TV. I have to put them on a USB drive and plug them into the PC. There is some limited connectivity to Windows Media Center but I am not running that. The dumb TVs with a PC on them connect seemlessly.

Reply to
gfretwell
[snip]

I have one smart TV that is about 4 months old. It's being used as a TV, and has never been networked.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Hmm. You don't have the PC hardlined (or wifi if hardlining isn't feasable for a variety of reasons) to the network?

Reply to
Diesel

The problem is the only thing a Samsung smart TV can see on the network in stuff in a Windows Media library and I think it has to be the W7 and above version of WMP. I know I played with it a little while and gave up (hard wired to the house network). It was easier to just plug in a USB drive. The TV connection is now on the wild side of the house network firewall.

Reply to
gfretwell

I understand. I thought you might be using a networked pc to treat the tv as a large video screen. :) That's what I do here. The tv isn't networked, but the pc is. That way, I don't have to run around with USB sticks. Just select what I want to play on the pc and have one of my linux boxes feed it to the pc that runs the tv.

Reply to
Diesel

I haven't been following this thread very closely, but Chromecast (Googlecast) works fine for me. But my tv is not what you guys are referring to as a "smart" tv. My phone works perfectly well as a remote control too when I'm watching Netflix or YouTube, etc... If I'm playing something which is on my computer the wireless mouse does that job just fine as well. If I just want to use the tv as a big screen for other computer stuff I hardwire it to the tv with a HDMI cable.

Reply to
RonNNN

I have 3 TVs with PCs connected to them and one "smart" TV

Reply to
gfretwell

I have one TV that has HDMI out connected to the living room TV and it goes to an HDMI splitter that also feeds the smart TV in the bedroom. That is the only way to stream Showtime on a Samsung. They do not have a "smart" deal with Show.

Reply to
gfretwell

Confirmed by Susan Rice...

Reply to
Tekkie?

New Comcast X1 uses wifi and can access Netflix without smart TV. I have it on two sets that are not smart and one that is smart but has their old DTA.

Reply to
Frank

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