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It took a year from proof of concept to in-the-wild attack, but ransomware for Android-based smart TVs is now here. As one victim discovered this Christmas, figuring out how to clean such an infection can be quite difficult.
Ransomware for Android phones has already been around for several years and security experts have warned in the past that it's only a matter of time until such malicious programs start affecting smart TVs, especially since some of them also run Android.
[...] Kansas-based software developer Darren Cauthon reported on Twitter on Dec. 25 that a family member accidentally infected his Android-based TV with ransomware after downloading a movie-watching app. The picture shared by Cauthon showed the TV screen with an FBI-themed ransom message.
[...] Eventually LG provided Cauthon with a solution that involved pressing and releasing two physical buttons on the TV in a particular order. This booted the TV, which runs the now defunct Android-based Google TV platform, into a recovery mode.
The Register also has additional details on the recovery method:
With the TV powered off, place one finger on the settings symbol then another finger on the channel down symbol. Remove finger from settings, then from channel down, and navigate using volume keys to the wipe data/ factory reset option. ®
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 04 2017, @08:20PM
I have tried these steps following and it worked:
Step1: Press Volume Down wait for 3 seconds and at the same time press Power Button so you have to make sure you have press both.
Step2: you will see the Factory Reset Interface on the Screen, if you didn`t make the Factory Reset Interface, you will see a Androied Person in the middle of the screen so NOW you just Press Volume UP then will directly going to the Factory Reset Interface.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday January 05 2017, @02:42AM
That's the warm-boot reset, which doesn't actually do a full reset. There's also a cold-boot reset, and what the OP needed, which was the full reinstall-from-backup-tapes reset, which isn't as easy to find details on. Even then, I'm not sure there won't be traces of the previous bits and pieces left behind somewhere, Android malware just hasn't got sophisticated enough yet to take advantage of more serious persistence mechanisms that have been documented by security researchers.