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Even the Dumbest Ransomware Is Almost Unremovable On Smart TVs (symantec.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the your-toaster-needs-an-antivirus dept.

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.

4 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"Reset to factory settings" button by ZorinLynx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a $400 speaker. Are you saying people are such sheep that after doing a firmware update that breaks the speaker, they wouldn't bitch to the manufacturer? I find it hard to believe anyone would give up on a $400 speaker that quickly, unless they are rich and $400 is nothing to them.

  2. Re:smart tvs are not smart by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a LG 3D Smart TV and the apps on it suck. They're slower than my Apple TV or my XboxOne. I had one roommate that liked to push his Netflix from his phone to the TV, but that was the only time it was used like that.

  3. Re:"Reset to factory settings" button by Noah+Haders · · Score: 3, Interesting

    yes, but which capacitor was it? and how do you fix it? maybe they wanted to get a 4k anyway?

  4. Again: Big Dumb Co by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.