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WikiLeaks Releases New CIA Secret: Tapping Microphones On Some Samsung TVs (fossbytes.com)
FossBytes reports:
The whistleblower website Wikileaks has published another set of hacking tools belonging to the American intelligence agency CIA. The latest revelation includes a user guide for CIA's "Weeping Angel" tool... derived from another tool called "Extending" which belongs to UK's intelligence agency MI5/BTSS, according to Wikileaks. Extending takes control of Samsung F Series Smart TV. The highly detailed user guide describes it as an implant "designed to record audio from the built-in microphone and egress or store the data."
According to the user guide, the malware can be deployed on a TV via a USB stick after configuring it on a Linux system. It is possible to transfer the recorded audio files through the USB stick or by setting up a WiFi hotspot near the TV. Also, a Live Liston Tool, running on a Windows OS, can be used to listen to audio exfiltration in real-time. Wikileaks mentioned that the two agencies, CIA and MI5/BTSS made collaborative efforts to create Weeping Angel during their Joint Development Workshops.
According to the user guide, the malware can be deployed on a TV via a USB stick after configuring it on a Linux system. It is possible to transfer the recorded audio files through the USB stick or by setting up a WiFi hotspot near the TV. Also, a Live Liston Tool, running on a Windows OS, can be used to listen to audio exfiltration in real-time. Wikileaks mentioned that the two agencies, CIA and MI5/BTSS made collaborative efforts to create Weeping Angel during their Joint Development Workshops.
News Flash!
If it has a microphone, camera, receives RF, or transmits RF, you can bet that the CIA, NSA, GCHQ, GCSE, ISI, etc., have figured out how to spy on and/or surreptitiously activate the device or have at least given it a serious try.
Why do people continue to be surprised by these revelations?
About the only new information here, I suppose, is the specific devices targeted and the degree of success which they have achieved. Still, if you are concerned about espionage, then treat every electronic device as compromised and you won't have a problem.
If someone can sneak a USB stick into a television, he can sneak a microphone and a transmitter into the room. Or put the microphone on the stick and use USB just for power - no need to rely on the target having a specific old model of television.
Nothing a dollop of cyanoacrylate can not fix to disable the ability to microphone from picking up anything. If I wanted my TV to hear me, I will tell it with the remote or better yet, unplug when not in use. The latter seems more frequent these days as there is nothing really worth watching anymore.
On the other hand, you don't know who has physical access to your TV before you buy it, do you?
With physical access, they are in your living room. That means they could also just stick a tiny microphone at the back of the TV, or underneath your coach, or .. drill a hole in your walls, insert microphone, fix the hole with some material that doesn't block sound too much and repaint the fixed wall. Endless possibilities.
I'm more concerned when the smartTV can be remotely turned into a listening device. Which, btw, wouldn't surprise if also that would be possible. Either way, my TV ain't online. Nexflix, if I ever want it, will go via another device to the TV.
If you are of particular government interest they could set up a surreptitious wifi hotspot for you.
People always say this kind of thing. The thing is, that they could, but they wouldn't. They probably aren't particularly interested in you now. However, say a few years down the line you have a big successful company and "they" want to force you to betray a customer, what can they then do? With the wifi hotspot nothing because they won't have known that you have the company in future.
With mass surveillance and cheap access to your smart TV they can just monitor everyone and then, when the find out your company is a success, they go back in time, look at the old data they mass collected, use that to force you to give them the keys to the kingdom and take away all the independence you built up.