Televisions with apps are already a little superfluous — the updates are slow, the interfaces are borish, they think you actually want to tweet from a 55-inch screen. But now it turns out that they’re also vulnerable to hackers. Great.
In the video above, security consultants demonstrate just how deep into a Samsung TV they can get. And while the vulnerability could lead to general silliness (remote channel changing! rearranging widgets! har har!), hackers could also take control of your webcam, access your passwords and install malware.
Hackers would need physical access to your TV to initiate the hack, but all it takes is a USB drive in the right place — behind your TV, where you’re never going to notice it — and you’re toast.
In a world in which we’re already so vulnerable on so many levels, it’s exhausting to hear that the one place you’d think is safe — that big talky box in your living room — could be another point of apprehension. If you really want a connected TV, buy a dumb one and connect it with a cheap streaming player. You’ll save yourself money, annoyance, and now maybe a little security as well. [Computerworld]