Spoiler Alert: Your TV Will Be Hacked

snydeq writes "With rising popularity of Internet-enabled TVs, the usual array of attacks and exploits will soon be coming to a screen near you. 'Will Internet TVs will be hacked as successfully as previous generations of digital devices? Of course they will. Nothing in a computer built into a TV makes it less attackable than a PC. ... Can we make Internet TVs more secure than regular computers? Yes. Will we? Probably not. We never do the right things proactively. Instead, we as a global society appear inclined to accept half-baked security solutions that are more like Band-Aids than real protection.'"

Comments

Heh

[jeesis]

No longer will I need a universal remote to screw with the neighbors television.

Re:Heh

[AmiMoJo]

I recently got a Panasonic smart TV. There is an Android app that lets you control it from your phone/tablet, and you can push photos and video directly from the device onto the TV screen. It works over wifi and there isn't any kind of authentication or code. In other words if your neighbours have insecure wifi and a Panasonic TV you and display whatever you like on their screen.

I'm sure many other smart TV platforms are similarly insecure, in that they assume your wifi network is a secure environment.

Why not yet ?

[nonos]

I'm wondering why my tv hasn't been hacked with air waves : one morning, I switched it on and it told me a firmware update had been uploaded over the air during the night.

What can stop hackers to send rogue fw updates over the air ?

Also, is it possible to exploit mpeg2 video decoder bugs to takecontrol of tv ?

Any info of previously discovered hacks of this kind ?

Never gonna give you up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bonus points for the first ones to rickroll on every channel at once.

And... go

Dumb displays

[mehrotra.akash]

I prefer my TV's to be dumb displays
They should be limited to take video in, modify resolution/contrast/etc as per settings and display it on the screen, and provide a control interface
IF I want to play media on it, I will use a device for that
Modularity is better

I have a challenge to all hackers out there

[AuMatar]

The ultimate TV hack, one that will make you the most infamous hacker in the US. Make it so that during the last quarter of the superbowl, the entire country gets rickrolled and are unable to return to the game. If it's a close game, wait til the very end (last year doing it on Brady's last drive would be perfect).

Re:I have a challenge to all hackers out there

[Cornwallis]

Playing "Heidi" might be more appropriate.

More concerned by the TV companies than hackers

[travellerjohn]

An internet enabled TV is going to be irresistible to TV companies. Perfectly legally they will get together with the manufacturers to personalise you TV experience. Given half a chance they will monitor your viewing, suggest programs, personalise adverts, maybe even personalise the news. Not so bad you might think: I never have to see Sarah Palin on the TV again. More likely, if they think you are an independent voter in a swing state, it is back to back political adverts for you for the next six months. Don't be surprised if your remote dont seem to work half way through a PAC spot. Remember If You're Not Paying for It; You're the Product

Re:Non-functional requirements

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Why blame the engineers for that? The engineers that I know are trying to make things the best they can be, but they're prevented by short-sighted penny pinchers that make constricting demands.