A new Gamers Nexus investigation found a retail LG TV actively scanning the local network for phones, laptops, smartwatches and other connected devices, while also capturing microphone audio when the screen appeared to be in standby. The investigation found voice data being stored locally even after the TV was disconnected from the network, with the queued data uploaded once connectivity returned. Researchers also uncovered webOS vulnerabilities that could potentially turn the television into a remotely controlled surveillance device. The really unsettling part isn’t just the advertising angle. It’s the fact that a consumer television can sit inside your trusted network, enumerate other devices, access a microphone, store collected data locally and communicate with external infrastructure. Put that same device in a corporate office, hospital, hotel or conference room and the security implications become considerably more serious. I went through the investigation in detail, including the network scanning, microphone behavior, ACR, webOS attack surface, offline data collection and practical mitigations
The scariest part to me is this part:
This is how literally every mainstream OSes work unfortunately. Even Windows does the same with telemetry
From LG’s perspective of course this is what they do - anyone who has ever had to meter something knows offline caching is the only way to go. Networks are flaky, you don’t want data loss every time something minor causes a disconnect.
That said fuck LG with a rusty pole for what data they’re harvesting and how they’re using it
Has interesting implications for the used market…