A few days after Black Friday and some of you might have used the opportunity to buy one of those fancy new smart TV's for cheap, huh?
No matter when you bought it you maybe should think about those in terms of a cyber threat!
It shouldn't come as a surprise that some of those internet connected devices have pretty weak cyber security protection.
It surely isn't in the range of core competencies for some manufacturers of such devices to do a good job in this regard.
Smart TV's that hook up to the internet to allow for streaming from your favorite streaming service (Netflix, Prime and others), enable app usage, internet browsing and so on could be gateways for hackers.
Even the fed's (US FBI) have caught wind of these weaknesses and warn...
“Hackers can take control of your unsecured TV,” according to the notice. “At the low end of the risk spectrum, they can change channels, play with the volume, and show your kids inappropriate videos. In a worst-case scenario, they can turn on your bedroom TV’s camera and microphone and silently cyberstalk you.”
But it doesn't have to end there! Smart TV's might be used to infiltrate your home network (wifi and wired) to penetrate other network connected devices in your home!
Yes, the blessings of the smart home could be turned against you in the blink of an eye if hackers can successfully compromise your home network.
This will be one of the fastest growing markets in the next couple of year the smart home device "everything" trend.
One of your check marks on your requirement list when shopping for such devices should be some review regarding test results touching on safe internet integration for instance.
It's not just the possible cyber-stalking but real physical dangers that could materialize if your heating/air conditioning, alarm system, surveillance tech and smart power outlets could be compromised to cause havoc in your home!
Please check out this new article on the possibly cyber security wise dangerous smart TV's from threatpost.com.
So, are you using smart home tech?
Did you keep an eye on possible cyber security issues coming from such devices?
I personally use quite a number of such smart home devices. Lighting solution, heating, air conditioning, part of home security system is smart home enabled, smart power outlets and so on.
I personally looked into some of the chattier Chinese surveillance tech devices like streaming recorders for surveillance cameras, surveillance cameras and alarm systems.
Jeez... they talk a lot with "home" and other web services (manufacturer web services, cloud services) and some of them don't even encrypt the data that they try to send "home".
But what I did in my home network installation probably goes beyond what a regular user will or can do.
- I've set up multiple isolated network segments and take care of the IP routing either with Layer III switches or dedicated routers.
- I've also implemented a double firewall internet connection with a DMZ (A DMZ = Demilitarized Zone is a protected network, which sits between an internal network and an external network).
- All "sketchy" or risky devices are in this DMZ and have no access into my internal network segments.
- All the rules I've setup in my firewall environment are very restrictive and due to my day job I often use a group of dedicated network segments for information security application testing like penetration testing apps and so on.
I also have a honeypot and other intrusion detection systems.
Please let me know in the comments what you think of all this!
Cheers!
Lucky