Story 3K9 Watching a Smart TV? It's watching you, too.

Watching a Smart TV? It's watching you, too.

by
in security on (#3K9)
This just in from the Register: If you're watching a "smart television" containing internet capability and camera/microphone, your television is also watching you and can be coopted via malware to do all sorts of terrible things. Manufacturers seem to be blind to this, turning out lots of new models of internet-aware devices that risk being "smart" in all the wrong ways.
[Security experts] demonstrated exactly [the vulnerability] just down the road from the Infosec Europe conference, held in London. "Installing the bugging software requires physical access to the device, which is how we did it, or by installing a malicious app," said Felix Ingram, principal consultant at NCC Group. "Malicious apps could be downloaded from the manufacturer's app store. The TV does have the option for auto-updating, so releasing a legitimate app, then releasing a malicious update, is another attack vector."
Why bother buying a Smart TV though, when you can much more simply make your own using a Raspberry Pi [video]? You control the hardware, you control the software, and for bonus points you don't have to rely on the manufacturer to provide you the occasional firmware update out of the goodness of their hearts.
Reply 9 comments

Why yes, I am a curmudgeon (Score: 1)

by songofthepogo@pipedot.org on 2014-05-10 17:22 (#1GS)

This makes me glad I still have an "old-fangled" CRT television.

BS. This is a great thing. (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-10 18:38 (#1GT)

We WANT this potential. Allowing freedom means allowing malware if we're not careful.Otherwise our devices are walled garden iPablum that are allowed to run software only after approval by the company in charge, if they deign to consider it at all.

Nothing wrong with a curated app store of course, as long as it's not the only choice.

Re: BS. This is a great thing. (Score: 1, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-10 23:19 (#1GW)

There is a middle ground. I have a Samsung TV that has a USB input and can decode any media file I've thrown at it. It's not a smart TV by any definition - no Web browsing, no apps - but it has a great picture and plays my downloaded shows without a glitch. Sometimes you need to think about your real needs and not the razzle dazzle the manufacturers offer

Re: BS. This is a great thing. (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-05-11 05:39 (#1GX)

Or even better, my Toshiba TV can play files served by DLNA server over the WiFi. No need to mess with the USB sticks. And it does not have cameras, microphones etc.

I block it's Internet access at the firewall though... just in case...

Dumb TV (Score: 2, Interesting)

by alioth@pipedot.org on 2014-05-12 09:03 (#1H3)

When I went shopping for a new TV at the start of the year, I deliberately only considered 'dumb' TVs. The plan was to add the 'smartness' by using a spare computer I had. The computer does much more, and all the smart TV user interfaces have either had truly awful user interfaces or not supported something I wanted (meaning the computer would be needed anyway). The other issue is that it's likely that in a few years time a smart TV will be pretty out of date in what it supports - you'll have a perfectly good display but with this useless lump of 'smart' (complete with terrible user interface and security vulnerabilities). The computer however can stay up to date much more easily.

Re: Dumb TV (Score: 1)

by vanderhoth@pipedot.org on 2014-05-12 12:25 (#1H4)

I have to mostly agree with you on this. I have a Samsung Smart TV in my recroom, I love it, it's great with Netflix built in along with plex and other media server functionality built in. The thing that sucks the most about it though is when you're searching for something, you can't just type in what you want. You have to use the crappy remote to pick letters to spell things, which takes forever and is pron to errors. I've also had issues with my smart tv crashing and having to be unplugged to restart it.

On the other hand I have an older flat screen TV in my bedroom with an Ubuntu laptop in the closet and HDMI cable running through the wall to the TV and a wireless keyboard and mouse on my night stand. It pretty much does just as much as my Smart TV, with the added convenience of being able to play video games and use the keyboard for typing. My wife's laptop is coming up for renewal in the next year so my next TV will likely be a "dumb" TV and I'll setup her old laptop as the media center for the recroom TV. Now if I only had money for a large enough "dumb" TV. The largest disadvantage to this setup, maybe a bonus, is between my wife and I, I'm the only one who seems capable of controlling a laptop driven TV.

Re: Dumb TV (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-12 22:12 (#1HR)

Total bonus. Always choose the tech solution that locks out other family members - makes you more "fun" to have around, ha ha ha.

Re: Dumb TV (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-12 22:12 (#1HS)

Total bonus. Always choose the tech solution that locks out other family members - makes you more "fun" to have around, ha ha ha.

Re: Dumb TV (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-12 22:12 (#1HT)

Total bonus. Always choose the tech solution that locks out other family members - makes you more "fun" to have around, ha ha ha.