Slashdot Mirror
Even the Dumbest Ransomware Is Almost Unremovable On Smart TVs (symantec.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apparently even the easiest-to-remove ransomware is painfully hard to uninstall from smart TVs, if they're running on the Android TV platform, and many are. This didn't happen in a real-world scenario (yet), and was only a PoC test by Symantec. The researcher managed to remove the ransomware only because he enabled the Android ADB tool beforehand, knowing he would infect the TV with the ransomware. "Without this option enabled, and if I was less experienced user, I'd probably still be locked out of my smart TV, making it a large and expensive paper weight," said the researcher.
Is the one day, just like any other, that you are GOING TO GET SCREWED !!
Why the heck don't these devices have a "Reset to factory settings" button?
Flash memory is cheap. Have a permanent, unmodifiable copy of the firmware the device ships with. If you power it on while holding the button, copy that firmware over as the active firmware, clear out the user data area, and restart. Boom! TV is back to normal.
This sort of thing is ludicrously easy to implement and would save the companies money on warranty repairs.
I have a JBL speaker that I had to ship back to the manufacturer to be replaced because of a bad firmware update. A simple reset button like the one I described would have saved me a ton of pain and saved JBL money on shipping the speaker both ways. WHY isn't this sort of thing universal?
Is there any "smart" TV that actually works well?
I have owned a few and I always end up hooking up the Roku because it just works.
Seems like this is another reason not to hook up your smart TV to the Internet.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
At least it will match my IQ. I don't want a tv smarter than me.
Sounds to me like the researcher sideloaded a package, which of course carries the risk of malware, MitM attack or not. I imagine Google Play Store has protections against MitM attacks, at least I hope it would.
So are you telling me that user apps can modify the OS and run as root? Are Google developers complete morons or are the TV developers complete morons?
Showing clips of lady products, detergent and chocolate, every 10 minutes or so
Even the Dumbest Ransomware Is Almost Unremovable On Smart TVs
sometimes they bungle the headline, but you have to admit that this time they nailed it. kudos!
Is there really any reason to buy a "Smart" TV, versus a standalone display?
Even things like this aside, it seems like the TV equivalent of having an "all in one" model for your desktop, where you're pretty much stuck with replacing the whole thing if you want to do anything more than swap a hard drive or such. It also seems like buying a separate device, whether you're using a Roku or AppleTV or XBoxOne/PS4, and then hooking it to a giant monitor, is by far the better option.
You have to be pretty dumb to buy one.
Smart TVs use the integrated face system that gets infected by viruses.
I got a VIZIO 70-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV back in the spring. I've been very pleased with its exceptional picture quality and size. Even 1080p Blueray is stunning on this display.
I've been surprised to find that its "smartness" is also quite good. It uses Yahoo!'s app store and has lots of good apps including Amazon, Netflix, Ultraflix, YouTube, Plex, and more. The only app that it lacks, that I miss, is HBOGo, but my game console has that. The YouTube app usues YouTube's Direct To TV feature allows the app to interact with YouTube apps on smartphones and tablets. This makes for a very nice screen transfer experience, where videos van be sent form a phone or tablet onto the big screen without the clunky misery of Miracast and other proprietary screen sharing attempts.
4K content is relatively hard to find. Amazon has some and Ultraflix is all UHD/4K. But the libraries of 4K is limited.
I've also been pleasantly surprised that Vizio has been providing updates for it. I think it has had three firmware updates since I got it, my previous years old Vizio with VIA still has never had an update but needs it desperately, in terms of smartness and apps. That older TV smartness is utterly useless, but it's still a great display.
This is why I still use a separate device to stream on my TV. Much rather lose a $50 device than a $500 one.
This is just one more reason why I prefer my TV to be as dumb as possible...
I don't get this desire to have EVERYTHING connected. Why does everyone need everything connected to the Internet all the time? I don't think it's even desirable. This so-called IoT is going to have a serious backlash. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a Luddite. I work in IT and have across three decades now, BUT... I don't think it's wise to have all of ones "appliances" connected. My fridge doesn't need connecting to the Internet. Ditto my other appliances. I don't want my fridge telling me I need milk. I'm human. I want to be human, I want to look in my fridge and make these simple human determinations for myself. We are becoming completely dependent on tech and it's nonsense. We are losing our humanity in the name of convenience and connectedness and I will not go along with this. Anyone who sits and considers to possibilities and security implications and ramifications will be forced by sheer logic to agree.
I'm a simple man. When I'm in my home, I'm in my castle, as it were. I don't want anything but my router and laptop talking to the outside world. I want to be able to choose if and when connections leave my home.
Wouldn't your rather spend the money used for 'smart' features on better screen or electronics?
love is just extroverted narcissism
Smart TVs are a Dumb Idea. Don't buy one.
If you don't mind something smaller, get a dumb computer monitor.
Don't buy things with internet connection that don't need to have internet connection. Appliance companies specialize in appliances, not networking, not internet security, and not privacy. On any modern appliance, the thing that is going to break down first is the electronics. Washing machines used to last for decades, now they last for years, but require costly board replacements because the mechanical dials and switches have been replaced with software and firmware, and the boards don't last very long in environments in which you might find a washing machine. Instead of buying a new "start" knob when it wears out, or string a new wire if it breaks, you have to buy a $300 control board. It's a giant leap backwards in the name of progress.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
To me, there is something very stupid about integrating too much stuff in one box. A 'smart TV' consists of a receiver (for broadcast TV), a computer (for playing files/streaming/apps) and a monitor (the bit that shows the picture)
If these were nicely separate, a problem (of any sort - not just malware) would not force replacement of the whole lot.
In our living room we have an old 50" Samsung dumb plasma TV, connected to a DVD player, a satellite receiver and a computer.
If the computer gets pwned I boot it from USB and restore its SSD. If any of the other bits break, I only have to replace/fix/do without whatever is missing.
The only downside is having several remotes on the coffee table... and I could probably find a universal remote to do it all if I had to, though my 2 year old daughter has no problem at all with telling the TV to show her the computer, and then telling the computer to play her Hello Kitty videos.
Having said all that, a "Factory Reset" button is a SERIOUSLY good idea and should be present on anything with any kind of firmware.
It seeming more and more like Android is repeating all of microsofts mistakes about security. What's worse, andorid is getting embedded everywhere. Windows CE didn't have that sort of penetration.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
It's pretty dumb to buy a smart TV. What is going to happen when all the software on it is obsolete but the screen still works? People are going to be throwing out perfectly good TVs just to replace the software! Terrible for the environment.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Thanks for the old news. I turned off "Smart Interactivity" quite some time ago.
It's just not the big deal they tried to make of it. I'd be far more worried about the sets with cameras and microphones than a TV providing viewer data to websites. Cable providers are FAR worse offenders in the data acquisition arena. But, I'll be you think(falsely) that your Netflix use protects you from that.
Because, for every person like you, there are 10 that would just say "Speaker not work. Must buy new speaker."
Perhaps they would say that, but why on earth would they then buy a speaker from a manufacturer who had screwed them over like that?
In fact if a manufacturer did that to me, I'd tell friends not to buy that brand, and be inclined to tell future generations not to do so also. To this day I don't buy Sony audio equipment because of bad experiences in college.
So I hardly think it likely they would produce something crappy in this way on purpose.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A: Because when it's smart, it's dumb.
Q: How many robots does it take to screw in a light-bulb?
A: Wow! I didn't know there were little robots in my light-bulbs.
Thank-you. I'll be here all week.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
everyone wants to "monetise" everyone. Personally, I don't allow it, but most go about their day not knowing, or caring, they are being used to make money for others. I thank God my wife is on board with me in being somewhat old fashioned. We have mobile phones and each of us has a laptop running Linux, but neither of us wants to be connected all the time. Half the time I don't carry my mobile when I leave the house. I see people around me glued to their mobiles like expectant fathers. It's disgusting, really. People really have made "gods" of their things.
After I win All The Lotteries, I will form Big Dumb Company, with the principal division being Big Dumb Appliances, such as clothes and dish washers that are so well built, they can be handed down at least two generations, stupidly fixable with decades-long part availability, and that are designed to accomplish one task: WASH THINGS.
Same with TVs - or should I say monitors - with the best display possible, replaceable power supplies, interface ports (sans wireless nor Ethernet) out the kazoo, AND DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS. Tuner? game console? Roku? Fantastic: PLUG THEM IN. What will the TVs do? DISPLAY THINGS, PERIOD.
Now, onto phone / Internet service: BIG DUMB PIPE.
Facebook is the most annoying and dumbest app my devices refuse to remove. They all come with my recent mobile phones, but they refuse to remove the facebook apps from my phones.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
A few years ago, the wife and I purchased a rather spendy "state-of-the-art" front loading washer/dryer set. They both failed within the year. I complained to the vendor from where they were purchased and made a warranty switch for some old-school Maytags. Plain, white, basic analog knobs, noisy. Still working...
My grandparents are still using the same set they purchased for their retirement house in 1977. Kenmore, I believe.
What I don't get is why is the original OS/settings not stored in some read only memory where say the OS gets a virus the user would then be given an option to restore the software to factory and then fix it from there. Sure it is not the most ideal of soultions, but it is still a good one that a virus would not likely be able to destroy.
its 2015 FFS why is that not a thing for any piece of tech with an OS?
FUD
Another good reason to never, ever, under any circumstances, directly connect a smart TV, or any IoT appliance to any computer network whatsoever.
This is information Security 101
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I have a LG Smart-TV - non android. Just browsing the web trying to see videos in sites, you are covered by a rain of pop-up adds that make it impossible to navigate. One can't even remove a cookie from the built-in TV browser. It is just a matter of time before smart TVs stuck bloated by adware, unless the TV vendors offer more control to the TV owners - android platform or not.
-><- no
[My favorite speakers are] utterly compatible with everything from an original Walkman to an iPhone, because everything still uses that headphone jack.
Not for long though. Apple wants to phase out 3.5 mm.
Being small little speakers, they have the benefit that in a relatively short distance you can't hear them at all. Which means the wife and I can have music that people 30 feet away can't even hear -- which is a bonus when you're in the back yard or lounging by a pool and don't want to disturb other people.
Know what else has great sound, can't be heard from a short distance away, and sells for $50? Koss Porta Pro.