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Smart TVs can spy on their owners
Russia Today ^ | 15 Dec 2012

Posted on 12/16/2012 6:25:14 AM PST by shove_it

Viewers, beware: while you’re watching TV, your TV might be watching you back. A security firm discovered that Samsung’s Smart TV can give hackers access to the device’s built-in camera and microphones, allowing them to watch everything you do.

The Malta-based firm ReVuln posted a video showing its team of researchers hacking into one of the Samsung TVs and accessing its settings, channel lists, widgets, USB drives, and remote control configurations. The security flaw allows hackers to access any and all personal data stored on the TV.

“We can install malicious software to gain complete root access to the TV,” the video writes. With this access, hackers can use the Smart TVs built-in camera and microphones to see and hear everything in front of it. Instead of just watching TV, viewers could themselves be watched without knowing it.

But this flaw isn’t present in just one specific model. The vulnerability affects all 11 Samsung televisions of the latest generation. The Smart TVs have many of the same features as a computer, but lack the same kind of protection. The devices do not have security features such as firewalls and antivirus software...

(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Technical
KEYWORDS: hacking; security
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Just wonderful.
1 posted on 12/16/2012 6:25:20 AM PST by shove_it
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To: shove_it

1984 is here.


2 posted on 12/16/2012 6:27:51 AM PST by bmwcyle (We have gone over the cliff and we are about to hit the bottom)
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To: shove_it; Las Vegas Dave

Ping


3 posted on 12/16/2012 6:28:53 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: shove_it
"With this access, hackers Holder and the NSA can use the Smart TVs built-in camera and microphones to see and hear everything in front of it. "
4 posted on 12/16/2012 6:30:09 AM PST by Sirius Lee (RE SP - Republicans, from Mitt Romney ..to Karl Rove... are said to be concerned she will win.")
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To: shove_it

Oh noos. I guess I best wear underwear again while watching Revenge....lol.


5 posted on 12/16/2012 6:31:01 AM PST by napscoordinator (GOP Candidate 2020 - "Bloomberg 2020 - We vote for whatever crap the GOP puts in front of us.")
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To: Sirius Lee

I’ll guarantee you one thing, they won’t catch me watching MSNBC.


6 posted on 12/16/2012 6:33:44 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: shove_it

I’d be less concerned about this than the same scenario on a smartphone.

Anything with video and audio recording capability that is connected to the internet can be taken over and used maliciously. Some devices are more difficult to access without authorization than others, but it’s possible with all of them. Add in GPS and you have tracking of movement and location in addition to audio and video.

It’s ripe for abuse, and not just in an official capacity, stalking is a very real concern with bad actors in the private sector and even in your personal life.

Most people are disinclined to even bother understanding it, let alone doing anything about it.


7 posted on 12/16/2012 6:35:22 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

Interesting that that this news comes from a source named “Russia Today”.


8 posted on 12/16/2012 6:42:14 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: Sirius Lee

His Excellency is not going to like seeing me throwing him the bird every time his mug shows up on my TV screen.


9 posted on 12/16/2012 6:44:21 AM PST by Mouton (108th MI Group.....68-71)
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To: shove_it

LOL


10 posted on 12/16/2012 6:44:44 AM PST by Sirius Lee (RE SP - Republicans, from Mitt Romney ..to Karl Rove... are said to be concerned she will win.")
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To: shove_it; ADemocratNoMore; advertising guy; aft_lizard; AJMaXx; Alice in Wonderland; ...
Pinging the HDTV list..

HDTV pings!

Interested in the HDTV ping list?
Please Freepmail me (freepmail works best) if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list,
(approximately 375+ freepers are currently on the HDTV ping list).
The pinged subjects can be HDTV technology, satellite, cable, OTA HD reception (Over The Air with roof top or indoor antennas), Broadcast specials, Sports, Blu Ray/HDDVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.

Note: if you search Freerepublic using the keyword HDTV, you will find most of the past HDTV postings.

LasVegasDave.

11 posted on 12/16/2012 6:51:10 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
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To: shove_it; ADemocratNoMore; advertising guy; aft_lizard; AJMaXx; Alice in Wonderland; ...
Pinging the HDTV list..

HDTV pings!

Interested in the HDTV ping list?
Please Freepmail me (freepmail works best) if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list,
(approximately 375+ freepers are currently on the HDTV ping list).
The pinged subjects can be HDTV technology, satellite, cable, OTA HD reception (Over The Air with roof top or indoor antennas), Broadcast specials, Sports, Blu Ray/HDDVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.

Note: if you search Freerepublic using the keyword HDTV, you will find most of the past HDTV postings.

LasVegasDave.

12 posted on 12/16/2012 6:52:12 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
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To: shove_it

In a year or so I won’t have a TV, so I don’t care. I’m sick of pressing the channel button and making the rounds of the channels over and over again, and finding nothing at all that I can stand, let alone watch. TV is now little more than a propaganda tool to further tear down the little sense of ethics and morality that still remain.


13 posted on 12/16/2012 6:56:31 AM PST by I want the USA back (Yes.)
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To: shove_it

Note to self: Stop having sex with Victoria’s Secret models in TV room.


14 posted on 12/16/2012 7:01:47 AM PST by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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To: shove_it

Ha! Shades of Yakov Smirnoff:

“In America, you watch television. In Soviet Russia, television watch you!”


15 posted on 12/16/2012 7:07:32 AM PST by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: Mouton

Hahaha!!! This “polite” 57 yo woman either flips the bird and/or hits the mute button or turns the channel! I have a feeling His Excellency is going to see a LOT of us flipping him the bird!


16 posted on 12/16/2012 7:34:19 AM PST by sneakers (Go Sheriff Joe!)
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To: sneakers

hmmmmm maybe I better quit watching the playboy channel,,,


17 posted on 12/16/2012 7:41:57 AM PST by Craftmore
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To: shove_it
"I always feel...like someone's watchin' me..."

Just imagine, millions of DNC smart phones.

Move over Batman!

18 posted on 12/16/2012 7:42:29 AM PST by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afghanistan and Iraq))
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To: napscoordinator
"Oh noos. I guess I best wear underwear again while watching Revenge....lol."

Just moon it, or tape an eye ball picture back at the camera lense.

19 posted on 12/16/2012 8:02:14 AM PST by Average Al
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To: shove_it

I think it is time to mix all the cable connections to our 300+ home neighborhood. Let them figure out who they watching or monitoring. ;-)


20 posted on 12/16/2012 8:08:13 AM PST by Average Al
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