ALERT SUMMARY
According to recent reports in many media outlets including CBS News, TechCrunch, Consumer Reports and ZDNet; our cozy bedroom SMartTV’s may be providing more entertainment than we bargained for. The FBI has recently warned that SmartTV’s suffer from many of the same vulnerabilities of computers, especially since they are connected to the internet.
In addition, most SmartTVs now come with HD cameras and microphones making them fully capable of making your next date night into a viral internet video. Further, since many SmartTV’s are new onto the market, their security protections are often not up to snuff.
“Beyond the risk that your TV manufacturer and app developers may be listening and watching you, that television can also be a gateway for hackers to come into your home. A bad cyber actor may not be able to access your locked-down computer directly, but it is possible that your unsecured TV can give him or her an easy way in the backdoor through your router,” wrote the FBI.
The FBI Alert highlighted that hackers can take control of your unsecured smart TV and in worst cases, take control of the microphone and camera to watch and listen in. Ironically, some of the biggest exploits targeting SmartTVs in recent years were developed by the CIA, but were then stolen and published by WikiLeaks.
While the FBI Alert is alarming enough, a potential even bigger issue is the volume and type of data these devices are collecting and to whom they are sending it to. Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that many of the top SmartTV brands collected huge treasure troves of data in order to better target ads. The tracking problem became so severe that SmartTV manufacturer Vizio had to pay $2.2 million in fines after they were caught collecting and using unauthorized customer data.
For additional details and Step-By Step Alert Solution Instructions on how to protect and respond to this Alert, follow the link below.
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