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from the not-even-couch-potatoes-are-safe dept.
A new attack on smart TVs allows a malicious actor to take over devices using rogue DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial) signals, get root access on the smart TV, and use the device for all sorts of nasty actions, ranging from DDoS attacks to spying on end users.
The attack, developed by Rafael Scheel, a security researcher working for Swiss cyber security consulting company Oneconsult, is unique and much more dangerous than previous smart TV hacks.
Until now, all smart TV exploits relied on attackers having physical access to the device, in order to plug in an USB that executes malicious code. Other attacks relied on social engineering, meaning attackers had to trick users into installing a malicious app on their TV.
Even the mighty CIA developed a hacking tool named "Weeping Angel," which could take over Samsung smart TVs and turn them into spying devices. But despite its considerable human and financial resources, the CIA and its operators needed physical access to install Weeping Angel, which made it less likely to be used in mass attacks, and was only feasible if deployed on one target at a time, during carefully-planned operations.
Because of the many constraints that come with physical and social engineering attacks, Scheel didn't consider any of them as truly dangerous, and decided to create his own.
Source: BleepingComputer
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday March 31 2017, @06:20PM (1 child)
Probably a matter of build quality and cheap components. Ten minutes actually sounded a bit conservative to me, as I've seen more than one late 90s Sony CRT where you could almost watch (well, *hear*) a full 30 minute program before the picture reached full brightness! Although I definitely used some far older sets that didn't have that issue too. Probably because you could get a lifetime warranty on a TV in the 70s, but by the late 90s they were practically disposable...
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Saturday April 01 2017, @04:59AM
A modern CRT in good working order should be at full brightness in 15-30 seconds or so. Older TVs (those that have tubes besides the CRT itself) could take a couple of minutes which is why some of them had the "tube warmer" to reduce the power-on time to a few seconds, with the cost of the constant energy draw by the tube warmer. Though my guess is the tube warmers also reduced some of the thermal stress on the components which may have lengthened the life of the TV, which back then was a significant investment, so perhaps the cost isn't as bad as it might seem at first glance.
I remember those Sony TV's like you describe. I forgot the exact details as it's been a while, but you could restore them to working order by soldering in some new resistors on the circuit board attached to the neck on the CRT. It was more of a band-aid as the issue was a was a bit more complicated than that and the TV would eventually get wonky again, but the fix could potentially last a while and some of the TV's I fixed that way were still doing fine all the way up to when their owners decided to replace them with a LCD.