Tom’s Guide recently published an article citing backdoors into TCL android TVs. The full article is here:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/tcl-smart-tv-security-flaws
I was about to buy a TCL 55inch but have stopped to consider whether this finding will change my mind. Would this turn anyone off buying a TCL tv or are the recommendations in the last section enough to protect our information (strong wifi password, restricting devices from connecting to the internet etc)?
if you connect your tv direct to the internet then you deserve to get owned.
I have a TCL tv, I've just done a few tests on it and I can't see any traffic that I can't identify and no 'weird' ports open
If you think TcL is the only one that has issues theres every chance your mistaken…
Why not grab a Samsung? Their security is written by people who have no idea what they're doing, leading to stuff like this.
The CCP only want to monitor how many dim sims you consume…
I always order 12, and then order another 8, and then ask if I can get the 10 dim sim special…. twice.
All IoT devices are hackable. Always place your IoT under a private VLAN. There are plenty of open IoT devices on the internet and using an IoT Search Engine allows anyone to connect your device. Use a proper Firewall OS like pfSense or from Ubiquiti and Disable UPnP. You should also avoid buying products from Chinese companies as they are plagued with backdoors as governed by the CCP. Just take a look at Hikvision, Huawei, TP-Link, Lenovo and Tenda.
Source: I do Cyber Security, CTF, Bug Bounty and Reverse Engineering.
Thanks - really helpful advice. It’s promising to hear there are ways to protect the tv. Really worrying that backdoors are mandatory for Chinese products though.
I’ll look into the private VLAN, Firewalls and disabling UPnP!
Don't see an issue with the Chinese having to put up with all the kids crap that gets played on my TCL.
Sounds like an easy TV to mod. The firewall on the router will stop external parties from accessing the TV.