Posted on 12/24/2020 12:33:07 PM PST by Onthebrink
There’s been a huge amount of concern this year about the security implications of technology that originates in China or is owned by Chinese companies. That was, after all, at the heart of the fight by the Trump Administration to ban the popular social networking app TikTok, or at least to force a sale of it. The U.S. government has also cracked down on the manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, and the omnibus/coronavirus rescue package recently passed by Congress even included $1.9 billion to help companies remove equipment from those two companies.
Recently, a pair of security researchers raised the alarm about another Chinese tech company, the TV manufacturer TCL, which makes some of the most popular televisions available in the U.S.
The website of the researcher and hacker known as Sick Codes, in a blog post in November, pointed out “extraordinary vulnerabilities” in TCL’s Android TVs.
“Near the end of September, while conducting research into low-end Android boxes, I came across a number of serious flaws in the way in which these devices were being designed,” the post said. “Without delving into the nuances of each device, all of the Smart TV products are Android-based.”
The researcher discovered that they could easily access the entire file system of the devices.
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Me, I’m never going to hook my TV up to the internet. It would be like putting a spy in my house.
The file system on my tv won’t reveal much. But does that allow them to see everything on the home network?
I haven’t had my TV on for 5 years and haven’t missed it a bit. Now if Free Republic and some of my other favorite sites were to go down. . .that’s another story.
They're having fun in China and nobody's wearing masks. They actually teach their kids stuff in school. And in China, corrupt politicians and business leaders are lined up against a wall and shot.
Why does it matter if anyone, including the Chinese government, can look at the file system of my TV?
What national secrets are stored on my TV?
And, if they want to see what I have been watching it will not help them steal military or industrial secrets.
Maybe if they check my vintage TV watching, the Chinese can get the last seasons of Ironside released.
It’s the camels nose in the tent. It starts out small.....
Depends on if your home network is partitioned.
Generally the easiest way to do things is to have a cable modem (or whatever) a router for your computers and printers, and a separate router for all of the IOT devices that are so prevalent these days. That way the untrusted devices can only scan they’re own segment of the network. Sounds complicated, but these days people usually have an old router or two laying around to use.
And yet you have a computer hooked up to the internet.
Should one be concerned if one uses Google net or Google mesh for in-home wireless internet?
Asking for a “friend”...
ICU2 TVs and other ‘smart’ devices, what’s not to like?
Welcome to FR!
I dunno, they might find out that you have a carnal interest in Betty White.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
FWIW, most TCL TV’s that run on Android are marketed and sold outside the USA, though there are a few lower end models sold here. TCL TVs in the USA are mostly based on the ROKU platform.
I unhooked my Samsung from the network because it kept displaying ads in the list of inputs.
I go back online periodically to check for firmware updates, then cut it off again.
An Android TV would be on your home network and past the security of your home router, and might provide vulnerabilities inside your network that can be exploited.
Also, your "smart TV" could have many apps, including home security cameras, web browsing, Amazon Account, cloud storage, email, etc. The TV needs access to your credentials to use these apps, thus a backdoor could allow an outsider to access your accounts or credentials.
> And yet you have a computer hooked up to the internet.
Sure, why not? I _know_ what’s in the computer. I don’t know what is in the IOT devices. Therefore separate network. Makes the sneaking around by some random device harder.
I bought a TCL for my guest room as I didn’t want to spend much money on a TV I wasn’t going to use often. I had reason to check my google security settings and I was surprised to see that TCL now had full access to my email account. I kid you not. I subsequently blocked it of course. I don’t expect complete privacy on the internet but feel that’s over the top invasive. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise?
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