How did my Smart TV access my PC and modify it?

DeanWin7 · 22 Jul 2018

How did my Smart TV access my PC and modify it?

Hello forum,

I am doing my best to protect my privacy but any new equipment I purchase seems to somehow manage to invade it!

My family member recently acquired a smart tv and I gave them access to my wifi passcode and that is all. Today while working on my PC I right clicked on an image and in the contextual menu appeared a new option... "Play To > Smart TV". How did this option get into my remote pc without my permission!!!

I'm so fed up with this crap. Can anyone tell me how it did it and how I can protect my pc from unauthorised access (or tricking me into some sort of convoluted implied authorisation).

Many thanks for any help.

Dean.

samuria · 22 Jul 2018

It hasn't done anything Windows has found the TV on the network and offered to connect to it

DeanWin7 · 24 Jul 2018

Thanks for your reply Samuria...
Isn't windows supposed to prompt me before creating an option in the contextual menu? I don't recall a suggestion from windows to set this up?

Barman58 · 24 Jul 2018

There is probably some clause in the EULA that was agreed to when installing windows that could be read as your permission, to allow windows to display a right click access to Network media devices that you have added to the network, You may not have physically added the device, but you gave your family member implied permission when you gave the Network access code

There is not any real privacy concern with a media device such as found in a TV as it does not contain such code to access anything on the local network directly - It needs network access to reach the internet to run things like Catch-up TV, Premium services such as Netflix Etc. Now a lot of these premium options require an account to subscribe to, and most are based around a valid email address, used to set things up - which in turn can mean "Spam" emails in future for "Special Offers" and the possibility of financial information being hacked - These are all highly unlikely What-Ifs and from your posts would not be directly an issue to your data but worth being aware of

Also, As you are in Australia where internet may in some parts be limited or chargable with a cap, you may want to consider this as it could cost you, (or whoever pays the bill), money. This is something to be aware of as catch-up can be quite addictive

On the plus side most of these TVs, including this, one from the additional option added to the right click, is capable of acting as a remote network display so you could watch movies from your PC on the "Big Screen"

DeanWin7 · 24 Jul 2018

Hi Nigel,

Many, many thanks for putting my mind at rest and for all the additional information you have provided. It all makes sense. Although my passcode was used, my partner's email address was used for Netflix so any spam will hopefully go there which is ok as it's an email address for that sort of thing. I haven't heard of catch-up tv, perhaps it's not something we have here? Perhaps that's a good thing!

I have been enjoying sending random pictures of things my partner shouldn't be looking at and listening to her try to explain to her friends that it's not something she was watching... I haven't told her about my right click option yet!

Thanks again for your explanation.
Kind regards,
Dean.

mrjimphelps · 25 Jul 2018

I have the opposite opinion as Nigel - I believe Smart TVs and other "smart" IoT devices in your home (smart thermostats, smart light bulbs, smart refrigerators, etc) are inherent security risks. Most of these devices do not have good security built in. If you want to connect your smart TV to the internet, you are much better off connecting it to your computer and using it as an external monitor, because computers can be made a lot more secure than smart TVs. That's how I use my Smart TV, when I'm not using it as a traditional TV.

The first thing I did when I hooked up my smart TV was to disable the prompt that asked me to log on. It doesn't even try to log onto my network, nor does it ever ask for the password. This has the added benefit of making it turn on faster, because it bypasses all of the login procedures when I turn it on.

What can you do now? I see three options:

You could replace your router with a Norton Core router (https://us.norton.com/internetsecuri...-and-risk.html). I believe that a Norton Core router will provide the security you need so that you don't have to worry about the insecurity of the Smart TV.
You could change your wifi password. This would block the TV from being able to connect to your router.
You could check your router logs and get the MAC address of the Smart TV, and then block its MAC address, so that it can never get onto your router.

If you block the TV, you can explain to your family member that you have heard horror stories about the vulnerabilities of Smart TVs (do a Google search if you want to read some of these stories), and so you blocked the TV from being able to connect to the router. Your family member is free to utilize their own internet service (such as the wifi hotspot in their smart phone) if they still want to connect their TV to the internet. You shouldn't be pressured to give them your wifi password if you have security concerns. That's what I would do if I were in your shoes.

DeanWin7 · 17 Aug 2018

mrjimphelps said:

I have the opposite opinion as Nigel - I believe Smart TVs and other "smart" IoT devices in your home (smart thermostats, smart light bulbs, smart refrigerators, etc) are inherent security risks. Most of these devices do not have good security built in. If you want to connect your smart TV to the internet, you are much better off connecting it to your computer and using it as an external monitor, because computers can be made a lot more secure than smart TVs. That's how I use my Smart TV, when I'm not using it as a traditional TV.

The first thing I did when I hooked up my smart TV was to disable the prompt that asked me to log on. It doesn't even try to log onto my network, nor does it ever ask for the password. This has the added benefit of making it turn on faster, because it bypasses all of the login procedures when I turn it on.

What can you do now? I see three options:

You could replace your router with a Norton Core router (What is a smart TV and what are the associated risks). I believe that a Norton Core router will provide the security you need so that you don't have to worry about the insecurity of the Smart TV.
You could change your wifi password. This would block the TV from being able to connect to your router.
You could check your router logs and get the MAC address of the Smart TV, and then block its MAC address, so that it can never get onto your router.

If you block the TV, you can explain to your family member that you have heard horror stories about the vulnerabilities of Smart TVs (do a Google search if you want to read some of these stories), and so you blocked the TV from being able to connect to the router. Your family member is free to utilize their own internet service (such as the wifi hotspot in their smart phone) if they still want to connect their TV to the internet. You shouldn't be pressured to give them your wifi password if you have security concerns. That's what I would do if I were in your shoes.

mrjimphelps, just a quick thank you for your detailed reply. I am about to change my internet to the new Australian National Broadband Network (for what it's worth!) This means a new router will be provided. I will ask them if it's a Norton Core router but it's probably not. I tried everything to load the page https://us.norton.com/internetsecuri...s-and-risk.htm but it kept coming up blank. I'll see if I can implement your suggestions when I change the internet over. Thanks again.

mrjimphelps · 17 Aug 2018

DeanWin7 said:

mrjimphelps, just a quick thank you for your detailed reply. I am about to change my internet to the new Australian National Broadband Network (for what it's worth!) This means a new router will be provided. I will ask them if it's a Norton Core router but it's probably not. I tried everything to load the page https://us.norton.com/internetsecuri...s-and-risk.htm but it kept coming up blank. I'll see if I can implement your suggestions when I change the internet over. Thanks again.

Research the router they provide for you, to see how well it secures smart TVs and other IoT devices. The need for this type of security is well-known, and we are beginning to see other companies addressing this concern. The reason I recommended the Norton Core router is because I trust Symantec's anti-malware offerings; and I have read reviews on this product, and it looks like the real deal.

Also, I'm sure you can set up a firewall (perhaps the Windows built-in firewall) to block the TV from being able to access your computer. It probably isn't that hard to do, but I've never done anything like that, so I can't explain the process. My guess is that you will block the TV's MAC address from being able to access the computer.

Good luck.