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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.
in effect Samsungs ToS says that if you need to have a private conversation you should leave the room.
My living room and I'm supposed to no longer have a realistic expectation of privacy...
Short term solution ensure no connection to internet for TV
Longer term - got rid of the Samsung junk and replaced it with something else...
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.
So, does the television get closer to you every time you blink?
U.S. citizens aren't protected from dishonesty and sneakiness. Rich corporations and people are allowed to do what they want.
There are exceptions: Volkswagen to pay $2.8 billion in US diesel emission scandal
I thought one of the previous releases mentioned Weeping Angel (or at least weeping something) and that it turned Samsung TVs into room bugs. So I assumed this one was more details on it.
But the media seems to be talking about it as if it's new with this release and a big surprise.
Did they just notice it now, or am I misremembering the earlier stuff? (Either way, it's good that it's finally getting public attention.)
(Sorry to bother others with the question. But I've been too busy to plow through it all personally and would appreciate info from people who have done some deep-diving.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
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.
If we [society] really cared about privacy, we would require that ALL devices that contain a microphone or camera contain HARD switches that can cut them on/off at will. Not soft switches under software/firmware control. The reality is that ANY device with hard switches that contains a computer and a mic or camera can be broken into and used as a spy device. Be it a TV, phone, monitor, laptop, car, Echo, refrigerator, toy, whatever. And often there is no easy way to really/truly turn "off" the device (and then, of course, you can't use any other function).
Although it is relatively easy to disable cameras by sticking tape over them.... the same is not true for microphones. Of course, the manufacturers would scream about it, since it would add $0.25 to their $800+ devices and increase the mass by 0.0001%.
And regarding microphones, it isn't just about what you might be saying- sophisticated software can be used to detect all kinds of things like when you are present, where you might be, who you are with, what you are doing, even what you might be typing.
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.
Congratulations on missing the point.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
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.
Wikileaks may be defiled by the CIA, but their leaked document releases show what determined foreign governments have also probably done and maybe done before the CIA did it. So, it is likely the Russians hated the release of these documents as much as the CIA & NSA!
The whole affair has given all who came to the Electronic Party a big wake up call.
Do you want a gizmo in your kitchen or living room listening to everything that is said?
Worse yet, do you want to have it recording and maybe issuing commands? What if your kid screams "I am going to kill you." and the SWAT team shows up?
Then probably the worst case is a teenager saying something unprintable, and the child social services shows up with law enforcement.
No. It was a very early version of the X-wing.
Bark less. Wag more.