One of the more worrisome patents in recent months was one filed by Verizon that would allow the company to spy on viewers through a camera in a DVR. There might be nothing to worry about, however, as it’s just a patent and may never see the light of day. A more pressing concern is a new report that hackers can spy on you if you happen to own a Samsung smart TV.
A report out of The Security Ledger says that hackers have found an exploit in Samsung’s line of smart TVs that allows them to gain access to everything in the system. That means these hackers could potentially gain access to the social media accounts, access any stored files, and even spy on those using the TV through connected cameras.
The original firm to discover the exploit, ReVuln, created a short demonstration that shows how a hacker could take complete control over your television:
ReVuln – The TV is watching you from ReVuln on Vimeo.
Even more worrisome than the exploit itself is the fact that Samsung apparently didn’t include any kind of native security features in its smart TVs. There’s also no way to update the software to patch any of these holes. The only thing that could fix all of this is an official firmware update from Samsung, and ReVuln apparently won’t share the exploit with Samsung because it violates company policy. The company will, however, share the exploit with paying subscribers, but nobody else.
In short, owners of Samsung smart TVs are on their own until Samsung or another security firm with actual morals crack the case. Until then, I would suggest taking your smart TV off your network just in case. It’s apparently pretty easy to find and crack a smart TV as it’s displayed alongside every other device on your network.
[h/t: Tech Dirt]