Hackers used Smart TV to record couple having sex - uploaded to porn site

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Quote

When security experts exposed weak security in Smart TVs, manufacturers promised to fix it. But putting the same developers, who failed to secure the products in the first place, on the case seems rather pointless.

What some “naysayers” had predicted has apparently come true. In a case from England someone hacked a Smart TV to take over the camera. The person then went on to film the couple of the household having sex on the couch.

- “We have dealt with one couple who were filmed making love in the living room through their Smart TV by someone who had taken control of it,” said Laura Higgins from Revenge Porn Helpline to Daily Mail, adding that “the footage just appeared on a website”.

The couple found out only after some friends made them aware that the video had been uploaded to a porn site. The couple could easily identify their Smart TV’s camera as the culprit based on the angle.

They were not contacted by anyone prior to the incident.

 

/snip

Source - Flatpanelshd

 

Anyway, be careful of any webcams you have (to include those on a TV).  May just want to cover them up ... especially considering security is an afterthought for OEMs.

[fusi0n]

Don't use your Smart TV as a Smart TV. Leave it disconnected from the internet and use a Roku or Fire TV for "Smart Features". 

[Nick H. Supervisor]

1 minute ago, fusi0n said:

Don't use your Smart TV as a Smart TV. Leave it disconnected from the internet and use a Roku or Fire TV for "Smart Features". 

In those situations, wouldn't better advice be "don't get a Smart TV"? Otherwise surely you're paying extra for features that you're not using. 

 

How common is it for a Smart TV to have a webcam in it these days? I wouldn't use it if it were on my TV. Then again, I rarely use the webcam on my laptop, or the forward facing camera on my phone.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

My guess is that it wasn't "hackers" but the couple recorded it themselves.

[fusi0n]

Just now, Nick H. said:

In those situations, wouldn't better advice be "don't get a Smart TV"? Otherwise surely you're paying extra for features that you're not using. 

 

How common is it for a Smart TV to have a webcam in it these days? I wouldn't use it if it were on my TV. Then again, I rarely use the webcam on my laptop, or the forward facing camera on my phone.

Some TVs use it for Skype and what not.. But, good luck finding a 60" or bigger that isn't smart that is a consumer model.. 

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

and im sure, had the article been longer, we'd find out that the couples' wifi network was wide open or something. that, or 'hackers' guessed their Skype password as 'letmein' or something.

[ZakO]

"Source: Daily Mail" . Not saying this isn't a genuine potential problem now lots of internet-connected devices have webcams but this particular case was probably fabricated like almost everything else written by the DailyMail team. 

[DocM]

2 hours ago, fusi0n said:

Some TVs use it for Skype and what not.. But, good luck finding a 60" or bigger that isn't smart that is a consumer model.. 

Neilsen also uses the them to gauge viewship of tracked programming, and some have embedded microphones which are used for tracking. Samsung, LG, Vizio, most all of 'em. Samsung's system is called "SyncPlus".