Smart TV: Maintaining Privacy While Using

Modern people are used to surrounding themselves with the most functional, convenient, high-tech solutions that provide them with maximum opportunities and convenience in everyday life. And one of these elements can rightfully be called a smart TV. This is no longer a banal household appliance that allows you to watch movies, programs, streaming videos. It differs from classic analogs, which could be seen in most homes a couple of decades ago, by the ability to connect to the Internet, launch various applications directly from the network, make video calls, respond to voice commands and perform appropriate actions.

But such convenience has a downside: risks and quite serious consequences. Practice has shown more than once that, if desired, intruders can easily gain access to smart TVs and use the identified vulnerabilities in their own interests. And the very essence of "smart television" causes a completely logical and natural question for many users: "Can a smart TV eavesdrop or spy on me?"

This concern has become especially relevant against the backdrop of a huge number of scandals that have been recorded over the past few years and are associated with data leaks. The activity of Internet intruders has significantly increased, surveillance programs from government agencies have been activated in many countries around the world. The TV manufacturers themselves have also significantly increased suspicions. It turned out that they quite often collect information about user preferences, and then pass it on to advertisers.

And in these conditions, the first thing that needs to be understood is where exactly is this line between completely legal marketing research and a real invasion of personal space? We will consider this issue in detail in today's review. We will talk about how exactly modern smart TVs are vulnerable. We will highlight the real threats that every user of this household appliance may well face in practice. We will highlight the danger of Trojans and other malicious applications that smart TVs may be exposed to. We will tell you how surveillance of users of such devices can be carried out and provide a number of recommendations that will help counter the actions of intruders. The information provided will allow you to ensure a sufficient level of counteraction to external threats when using a smart TV and protect yourself and your family from serious risks.

What is the reason for the vulnerability of modern smart TVs?

Despite its rather laconic external form, a modern smart TV, in fact, can be classified as a full-fledged computer, endowed with its own operating system, having an impressive set of basic and additional services. Today, the functionality of most devices is provided by such platforms as Android TV, Tizen (using the Samsung brand), webOS (implemented in LG brand TVs), Roku OS. And this means that, like any other software, it can also contain a number of vulnerabilities. In addition, the presence of such useful functions as video conferencing, voice control, integration with tablets or smartphones not only simplifies the process of use and makes it more convenient. All this can open up a lot of opportunities for Internet attackers. Here are just the most common vulnerabilities:

• Collection of user data for the purpose of subsequent sale to advertisers and others. We have already mentioned that monitoring of views by manufacturers of household appliances in order to identify the preferences of an individual with subsequent transfer to an advertising campaign is already the norm today. And the first such fine was received by Vizio back in 2017. It was one of the first to be accused of collecting data about viewers through smart TVs without their knowledge and permission.
• Gaining access to the microphone and camera. Relevant for household appliances, the functionality of which involves video calls, speech recognition, and voice commands. If you do not provide additional and sufficiently reliable protection in this case, hackers will be able to connect to your device remotely and activate the camera or microphone. Thanks to this, your living room, bedroom or any other room in the house where the TV is installed will turn into a classic reality show.
• Compatibility with various third-party applications, as well as USB drives. Such a solution significantly increases the risk of introducing a Trojan or any other malicious software to the TV. This occurs as a result of installing unverified files via flash drives or using unofficial sources. This will be especially relevant for equipment running Android TV.
• Increased vulnerability of any network devices, including routers. Most smart TVs connect to the same Internet connection as all other devices in your home. If the router's protection leaves much to be desired, if you use simple passwords in your gadgets, then Internet attackers will be able to connect to your network without much difficulty and launch a malicious effect on the TV.

That is, all those moments that make a classic TV "smart" make life easier for users and will act as the main vulnerabilities that hackers, equipment manufacturers, government agencies and all those who need to obtain user data and, accordingly, benefits, can use if they wish. And the fact that you will be forced to watch annoying ads is not the biggest nuisance. There is a fairly high risk that your personal data can be stolen through the TV and subsequently transferred to DarkNet.

What real threats can smart TV users face?

Absolutely anyone who uses a smart TV can be exposed to quite serious threats. The main dangers here are the following:

1. Spying. It is carried out by remotely connecting to a camera or microphone. Such elements are now built into almost all smart TVs of the latest generations. Such voice assistants greatly simplify control, as they eliminate the need to enter data via the keyboard. But at the same time, Internet attackers with certain knowledge and skills can activate “eavesdropping” quite easily and completely unnoticed by you. Relatively recently, the user audience was presented with material from WikiLeaks, telling about a fairly wide range of software products called Weeping Angel. They were developed specifically for Samsung smart TVs and are capable of recording sound and then transmitting it via Wi-Fi networks. They work in false shutdown mode. It is impossible to exclude the possibility that such programs can be used to attack smart TVs of other brands. Let us repeat that this can be done not only by hacker groups or individual Internet attackers, but also by government agencies.
2. Pattern recognition algorithms. Modern Internet attackers have learned to analyze the frequency and volume of video stream segment packets, which allows them to see what movies and programs you are watching at a given time even without direct hacking.
3. Actions of manufacturers. Not all espionage can be classified as truly criminal. A number of manufacturers, even in factory conditions, build special mechanics into the firmware that can collect information about user preferences and interests. This is done in order to obtain the most comprehensive information about user habits and preferences. Most of this information is transferred to advertisers, who then send you the most relevant ads. That is, there are no serious illegal actions here. The only thing is that this information is collected without your permission or even knowledge.
4. Hacking through network devices with increased vulnerability. In practice, this happens in cases where users use fairly old routers that do not have a complex multi-level protection system. This opens up a unique opportunity for Internet attackers to use basic tools to gain access to a smart TV. One of the most well-known cases here today is Mirai. In this case, Wi-Fi routers and cable boxes began to be exploited en masse by hackers. In particular, they launched botnet programs on them. As a result, they managed to create a fairly impressive network of infected devices, which was subsequently sent to carry out a massive DDoS attack. This practice can also be used to perform other operations that carry an increased danger directly to the owner.
5. Vulnerabilities in browsers and radio signals. A number of modern smart TVs are equipped with built-in browsers. Unfortunately, not all of them are reliable enough. Experience shows that many of them have quite serious vulnerabilities in their protection. These are used by attackers in their practice. In particular, through such a poorly protected radio signal, they can transmit malicious code, thereby gaining control over a number of devices within the range of one transmitter.
6. Supply chain attacks. If we think theoretically, a smart TV can be compromised in production conditions. Such an attack is called a supply chain attack. It really happens rarely, but it still cannot be completely ruled out. This has already happened, when a Trojan somehow got into the official firmware at the factory. As a result, an entire batch of equipment was compromised. Unfortunately, this was discovered after complaints began to come in en masse from users, which led to the launch of an independent investigation that confirmed the presence of a virus in the software.
7. Modern methods of "smart" espionage. Unfortunately, hackers have also begun to expand their skills as information security methods and tools have improved. As a result, new methods of influencing user devices have emerged. This is also relevant for smart TVs. In particular, experts from the University of Washington have demonstrated the ability to track people's movements around the room using "chirp" signals. They are practically inaudible, but a microphone installed in the equipment can identify them. Thanks to this, the TV turns into a kind of radar with a low-level sonar.

As you can see, the threats are quite serious and varied. This means that it is time to forget that the TV is just a means for watching movies, programs, shows. This is the kind of equipment that needs comprehensive, reliable and modern protection, just like a personal computer.

What is the threat of malicious software for smart TVs

Regardless of whether a Trojan or any other malicious software gets into the software of your smart TV, it can negatively affect the overall performance of the equipment and more. Among the possible consequences, it is worth highlighting:

• Theft of personal user data. When connecting to streaming services, social networks or many other sites, authorization is required. That is, users enter personal logins, passwords, and in cases where there is a direct purchase of films, even payment information. And all this information can end up in the hands of Internet attackers. And what they will do with it next, you will not know for a certain time.
• Botnet. There is a risk that your smart TV will come under the control of attackers and become one of the nodes participating in DDoS attacks. The problem is that for a fairly long period of time you may not even realize that your equipment is under the control of malware. The first signs of such a problem will be a decrease in productivity, Internet speed.
• Spying. We have already talked about the fact that modern technical capabilities allow you to spy on users and listen to them through the built-in microphone and camera. That is, there is a risk that hackers will monitor your home, your actions literally in real time.
• Collection of marketing information. This problem is typical if your smart TV has malicious software not from hackers, but directly from the manufacturer of the equipment. The most that threatens you in this case is a massive "invasion" of aggressive advertising, the selection of which will be carried out on the basis of an analysis of your behavioral factors.
• Changing settings against your wishes. If your TV is under the control of Internet intruders, they can easily switch channels, add and vice versa, reduce the volume, download third-party programs and even encrypt files, demanding money for their decoding.

It is clear that a TV, even a "smart" one, will never contain as much information and sensitive data as a personal computer or smartphone. But hackers will still be able to use its vulnerabilities to connect to your home Internet network and, accordingly, to all those devices that are connected to it. Therefore, such seemingly insignificant dangers can cause extremely dangerous consequences.

How do smart TV manufacturers actually spy on users?

To counter any illegal actions, you first need to understand what exactly you are dealing with and what consequences such a problem can have. Many modern manufacturers of household appliances, including smart TVs, strive to make them as convenient as possible for consumers. In our case, we are talking about providing personal recommendations, voice control. To implement such an idea, telemetry collection functions are added to the software. In many modern smart TVs, such mechanisms will already be active by default, since they are set in factory conditions.

In practice, there have already been cases when not particularly conscientious manufacturers, in interaction with advertisers, abuse their own capabilities. They use these functions to track behavioral factors and create a collection of user data for themselves. Thanks to this, they will be able to:

• identify a link to an IP-address or any other identifiers that allow them to determine your Internet connection provider and to determine your geolocation with sufficient accuracy;
• collect anonymized browsing data for the purpose of subsequent resale to interested parties;
• form consumer audience profiles based on the collected data, transmitting them to launch targeted advertising.

If you have enough strength and patience to study the multi-page "User Agreement", but you will probably notice that such actions are quite legal. Moreover, manufacturers warn you that they can perform such work. But most people simply do not read such documents. But even with all this, the ethical question still remains open. Manufacturers of equipment do a lot to collect user data without informing them about it, without specifying what information they are interested in, how it will be processed and for what purposes it will be used in the future.

Protecting your smart TV: practical tips and recommendations

For every action there is a reaction. This folk wisdom is relevant in this case. It is clear that a modern user will most likely not be able to refuse all those "smart" options that are integrated into modern smart TVs. Therefore, the emphasis should be placed on measures that can minimize such risks and ensure sufficiently high levels of privacy and security. When implementing such an idea, the following recommendations will provide you with significant assistance:

1. Keep an eye on the release of new versions of your software and update it as quickly as possible. This is relevant for absolutely all devices, including smart TVs. Each new such update will already close previously identified vulnerabilities, which in itself will ensure higher security levels. In this case, it is advisable to simply subscribe to the mailing list and update the software as soon as you receive the corresponding notification.
2. Use only safe sources and official applications. Today, there are many official stores from which you can download any software products without any risks. The most common solutions are Samsung Store, Google Play, LG Content Store. But even if you really need third-party applications, you should definitely check them with an antivirus program and read user reviews before installing them.
3. Think about how to secure your router. We have already said that older models, protected by the simplest password, are more vulnerable. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is update the hardware itself. This is especially true if your router has firmware that is five years old or more. Next, you need to set a fairly complex password. It is also best to disable WPS and all those options that you do not use in practice. Ideally, you should use the built-in firewall.
4. It is better to completely disable access to the microphone or camera or at least limit it. This is especially true for users who practically do not use the voice command or video call function in practice. These tasks can be performed directly through the settings with literally a few clicks. You also have the option of simply covering the camera lens with an opaque film or using a slider curtain, opening it when necessary and closing it after a video call.
5. Study the terms of the user agreements. Ideally, this should be done before purchasing the equipment. It is clear that reading a huge number of pages with completely uninteresting information is not the most pleasant task. But still, this is the only way to find out what data this manufacturer will collect. Practice shows that in some cases you can refuse some options, while maintaining the general mass of important functions.
6. Try not to use "extra" Internet on your smart TV. This is especially true for fairly outdated models, the reliability of which may logically raise doubts. In this case, it is better to turn off Wi-Fi, and configure the work through a separate set-top box, which is also called a "stick". Alternatively, this could be Fire TV, Chromecast, etc. Here, updates are released more often. This means that the security level may be more significant.
7. Consider additional use of antivirus programs. Unfortunately, today there are very few such applications. Therefore, it is better to use options for smartphones and computers, through which you download files for subsequent viewing on TV. In practice, complex solutions such as Kaspersky Premium and similar ones also give good results. This is what will allow you to maintain fairly good cybersecurity indicators for your entire home Internet network.
8. Replace all standard passwords that you use when connecting to services and regularly check the settings. Practice shows that many smart boxes and cable boxes already have the same password by default. Even before the first use, you will need to replace the standard set of characters with a more complex and unique one. Such actions should be performed with absolutely all "smart" gadgets present in your home.

The security of your smart TV and other devices is in your hands. Do not neglect these rules, especially since they are quite simple and undemanding to implement.

Hacker tricks that can be used to attack smart TVs

Smart TVs are not classic computers, smartphones, which most hackers focus on. There are significantly fewer people willing to hack household appliances, but they still exist. And this niche will have its own threats and spy techniques. Here are 4 situations that happened relatively recently, suggesting an impact on household smart TVs:

1. Collection of user data by Vizio. We already mentioned above that a similar case was considered in 2017. Then, by decision of the courts, the company was fined $ 2.2 million for espionage. It was proven that the manufacturer had built an additional mechanism into smart TVs that allowed it to collect data about viewers and then sell it to third-party organizations without the consent of users. This was the first high-profile scandal that attracted public attention. But, unfortunately, this is far from the only case of this kind. It cannot be ruled out that even the world's leading brands can launch something similar in one of the batches of smart TVs.
2. IoT botnets and Mirai. Another case that attracted massive attention from the world community. We are talking about the Mirai botnet, which hackers used to gain access to household IoT devices. Here, in addition to smart TVs, routers and cameras were also hit. The bet was made on weak passwords, allowing Mirai to penetrate the system, download malware to all devices and unite them into one network. This made it possible to create a large-scale platform for carrying out mass DDoS attacks. The Internet infrastructure suffered quite significantly from such an impact.
3. Serial passwords in set-top boxes. Many providers supplying Internet and cable TV to the market previously used the same "backdoors" and passwords in their set-top boxes. It was enough for some Internet attacker to purchase such a device for himself to immediately gain access to thousands of other set-top boxes. This became the basis for the formation of huge networks for data theft, implementation of DDoS attacks. After such a problem was identified, the practice of identical passwords in Set-Top Box was eliminated. But still, today users still have thousands of old set-top boxes at home. It is clearly not worth excluding the possibility that next time they will be the ones to be hacked.
4. Weeping Angel. This is one of the WikiLeaks programs that information security experts managed to identify. It was aimed at smart TVs from the Samsung brand and allowed the special services to record all the sounds occurring in the room even when the equipment itself was in “sleep” mode. In this case, hackers managed to create a simulation of such a "sleep" in which all sensors retained their activity.

Let us repeat that these are only the identified and most common cases. If you dig deeper, you will probably find other types of hacker attacks aimed at household smart TVs.

What to do if it seems that your smart TV is under a hacker attack?

In order not to miss a hacker attack and to resist it in a timely manner, you need to monitor the operation of your smart TV. The slightest failures, uncharacteristic actions, reduced performance - this is what should definitely alert you. Special attention should be paid to independent reboots, channel switching, opening pop-up windows. If you notice something like this, you need to do the following:

• save important personal data, and then reboot, and ideally even reset to factory settings;
• check all those applications that are currently installed on your TV, and anything that you have doubts about — delete;
• all available updates and firmware must be activated: let us repeat that most of them will already contain protection against those vulnerabilities that were identified earlier;
• check your router, update its software, change the password: it is better to deactivate those functions that you are not currently using;
• contact the technical support service of the Internet provider or the manufacturer: many of them offer a set of instructions that allow you to independently check whether the failure was the result of some system errors or hacker attacks.

In any case, you should not ignore any uncharacteristic "behavior" of your smart TV. Only by being extremely vigilant can you protect yourself from hacker attacks.

Let's sum it up

Modern users have become so accustomed to smart TVs that they are unlikely to return to standard equipment that does not have an Internet connection. And this is quite reasonable, because thanks to advanced technologies, we gain access to streaming platforms, can make video calls and more. But at the same time, we are faced with new risks that, unfortunately, we do not always notice, thereby giving attackers carte blanche in their illegal activities. The problem is that not all manufacturers side with ordinary users. It may well happen that they themselves will collect your data and transfer it to advertisers, or simply sell it online.

That is, it is important for you to understand that a smart TV is, in fact, the same computer. This means that it is also important to pay due attention to ensuring its security, because this is the only way to increase your own security. And to do this, you need to regularly update your firmware, use only proven and reliable sites to download content and applications. Particular attention should also be paid to the security of the router, providing reliable and uncompromised passwords. It is also important to turn off the camera and microphone when you are not using them. In some cases, you can even turn off the built-in network and use additional devices, such as streaming sticks. Such a solution will significantly simplify control over security and facilitate the update process.

Everything we talked about in today's review is further proof that today, in the era of digitalization, each user must pay a lot of attention and effort to ensure their own safety when working on the Internet in general. And it does not matter what device is used in this case: a computer, a tablet, a smartphone or even a household TV. And here the task is to find the most effective and balanced solution.

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