Samsung management admitted that their smart TVs spy on their owners. How TVs are watching you
Samsung TVs record conversations of their owners February 9th, 2015
Damn it! Not only do phones send our conversations and files to unknown destinations, laptops monitor us via webcam, but there’s also this! And I was just telling it yesterday in front of the TV... oh well, let’s go.
And don’t say later that I didn’t warn you that...
... Samsung smart TVs send sensitive user information to third parties. The device manufacturer itself warned about this, equipping them with a voice recognition function.
Samsung's privacy policy for smart TVs warns against sending personal information to third parties, so the company recommends refraining from telling your secrets in front of the TV, the Daily Beast writes.
“Samsung may collect and your device may record voice commands and related text so that we can provide you with voice recognition features and evaluate and improve their performance. Please be aware that if the words you speak include personal or sensitive information, this information will be among the data recorded and transmitted to a third party when you use voice recognition,” reads Samsung’s privacy policy document. This warning applies to TV models with voice control.
Electronic Frontier Foundation member Parker Higgins compared the warning to a piece of text from George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. It uses televisions with built-in cameras that cannot be turned off to spy on people. They are called telescreens.
“The telescreen worked for reception and transmission. He caught every word, if it was spoken in a not too quiet whisper; Moreover, as long as Winston remained in the field of view of the cloudy plate, he was not only heard, but also seen. Of course, no one knew whether he was being watched at that moment or not. How often and on what schedule the thought police connect to your cable - one could only guess about that. It is possible that they were watching everyone - and around the clock. In any case, they could connect at any time. You had to live - and you lived, out of habit, which turned into instinct - with the knowledge that your every word was being overheard and your every move, until the lights went out, was being watched,” Higgins quotes from the novel.
Samsung Electronics told TechCrunch that it adheres to industry standards for information security in its TVs, and data is transferred to servers in encrypted form. If desired, the function of recording voice commands can be disabled, the manufacturer said.
The issue of privacy when using smart TVs has been raised many times before.
In November 2013 it turned out that smart TVs LG sends some unwanted data to the company's servers, including information about the channels you watch and the names of files stored on the connected TV external USB drive. A British blogger with the nickname DoctorBeet, who found out about this, wrote that data continues to be sent even if this function is turned off in the settings.
At the beginning of February 2017, the American company VIZIO, a manufacturer of inexpensive, popular TVs with high quality images paid a fine of $2.2 million to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the US government designed to protect consumer rights).
As it turned out, the company's televisions busily tracked what their owners watched and transmitted the data to the company's server, which in turn shared this data with advertisers.
This is a gross violation, but Vizio's crime was one of many violations that .
Other smart TV platforms don't sell their review data at the IP level without user consent, as Vizio has done.
But many of them track your habits, according to at least, some part. And even those companies that have already switched to more modern technologies Privacy-protecting companies still sell older models with the ability to record user activity.
Good news! There are ways to keep your Smart TV from the prying eyes of the TV manufacturer
Dumb It Down
Think about what you really get from the smart part of your high-tech TV? Strange interface? Voice commands that work half the time, and only if you're lucky? Several bonus ads popping up in the most unexpected places? No thanks!
Go to Settings, find On/Off wifi switch, and turn it off.
If you insist on keeping your smart TV connected to the Internet, here are some ways to limit user tracking by brands manufacturers of smart TVs.
How to turn off tracking on Vizio TVs
If you're lucky enough to own one of Vizio's 11 million low-cost TVs, the company that makes it must delete all user data collected before March 1, 2016.
Vizio also says that information collection has been disabled on all televisions running the Vizio Internet Apps platform. But just in case, disable the spy on Vizio yourself.
From the TV menu, go to the head to System option, select Select Reset & Admin, select Smart Interactivity, and press the right arrow button to toggle to Off.
New Vizio sets use SmartCast, which have Chromecast built-in Chromecast- This small device, which is inserted into the HDMI connector of the TV and allows you to stream content from your phone, tablet or laptop directly to big screen. Chromecast works with iPhone®, iPad®, mobile devices Android, as well as Mac computers®, Windows® and Chromebooks.**, which means Google will still collect some data. 
How to disable user tracking on LG TVs
Good news According to Consumer Reports, LG's current line of TVs will not automatically collect data.
Bad news is that older LG models continue to monitor the actions of viewers.
If you have one of the models that has Live Plus, go to Options, then Live Plus, and turn it off.
How to disable user tracking on Samsung TVs
Samsung will first ask for your consent to track your browsing behavior when you turn it on for the first time. I hope you gave up on time. If in your haste you forgot to set up your brand new big screen, it’s still not too late.
Let's go to the Smart Hub menu, then Terms & Policy. Next, go to the user records (Chooose SyncPlus and Marketing), and turn off this service.
While you can also disable the speech recognition service on modern TVs Samsung, in 2015 they were still producing home Samsung screens who listen to literally everything within earshot.
The company has since changed its voice recognition policy to only work when you say something specific.
How to disable user tracking on Sony TVs
Most of the high class Sony TVs today use Android TV, which means you're exposed to Google's data collection practices.
Sony itself may also collect data through audio recognition, but the company offers an easy option to opt out of sharing customer data when you read its Privacy Policy the first time you use your all-in-one. You should definitely do this!
It's important to remember that almost any device that is connected to the Internet is tracking you in some form, spying on you in one way or another.
The use of this function is officially mentioned in the privacy policy of Samsung devices. The Daily Beast (www.thedailybeast.com) writes that Samsung company notified clients that users are not recommended to mention personal secrets and classified information near company devices with Smart functions TV.
Evgeny Kaspersky (CEO of Kaspersky Lab) recently mentioned the dangers associated with using Smart TV. The essence of his warning was that exploitation of TV firmware exploits would begin very soon. In turn, this will lead to the spread of viruses that will be downloaded directly through repositories and steal personal and commercial information from TV cameras and microphones.
As you can see, there is no need to steal anything; the TV already has built-in spying functions, as Samsung does not hesitate to say. 
A source from the Daily Beast mentioned the novel "1984" by George Orwell, in which all citizens lived with the idea that at every moment of time they were being watched by a special service through special devices"telescreens".
“The telescreen worked for reception and transmission. He caught every word, if it was spoken in a not too quiet whisper; Moreover, as long as Winston remained in the field of view of the cloudy plate, he was not only heard, but also seen. Of course, no one knew whether he was being watched at that moment or not. How often and on what schedule the thought police connect to your cable - one could only guess about that. It is possible that they were watching everyone - and around the clock. In any case, they could connect at any time. You had to live - and you lived, out of habit, which turned into instinct - with the knowledge that your every word was being overheard and your every move, until the lights went out, was being watched.”
At the same Samsung time commented on the fact to TechCrunch that only she would get the information, since everyone Smart data TV will be well encrypted. It was also mentioned that data collection can be turned off if desired. Belarusian buyers should keep in mind that access to a full service (change of region when buying a TV in the EU countries, etc.) can only be obtained through the service menu.
From the author: okay Samsung, with their Eastern mentality, now imagine American Apple. What personal information collection capabilities does this company have that has the ability to collect voice and video messages, user preferences, age, gender and biometric data (fingerprints in Touch ID).
IN Lately Samsung Corporation is frankly unlucky: before people forget one scandal, the next one is brewing. That Galaxy smartphones Note 7s suddenly start exploding, then the actual head of the company is arrested, and now Samsung is accused of selling spy TVs.
According to leaked secret documents, CIA employees, together with agents of the British security service MI5, learned to hack smart TVs using a flash drive Samsung series F8000. Thanks to this, the devices became real bugs: they could record everything that happened in the house using a built-in microphone, and then send encrypted audio files to remote servers.
The worst thing in this story is that even turning off the TV does not save you from long arms and the sensitive ears of American special agents: they developed an algorithm with the help of which the equipment only simulated inaction. The microphones, which were also located in the device’s remote control, worked all the time. When the user decided to turn on the TV itself, the Wi-Fi connection was restored - and all data was immediately transferred to CIA agents. It's funny that all F8000 series TVs run Tizen - the "most secure" one operating system, which was repeatedly praised by developers and was seen as a “safe” alternative to the “malicious” Android.
Whether Samsung is at fault or not, spying on TV owners clearly violates the user agreement. The company's official website states that, with the exception of special occasions, personal information is not sent to third parties.
The only time data is sent to a third party is during a search. At this moment, the data is sent to the server, where the desired content is searched, and after that the search results are displayed on the TV. Details such as name, address and others are not sent anywhere unless you submit them at the time of request. For example, if you have activated voice control and ask to find your name, indicating that it belongs to you, then the request will be sent to the server to search for results, says the terms of use of the voice recognition function on Smart TV.
However, it is quite difficult to learn about all the intricacies without diving into the Internet: during the first turn on, the TV owner is asked to familiarize himself with user agreement, which usually no one reads. IN in this case it may not be read because only the part dedicated to voice search, consists of 76 pages. And there are at least five more such parts. Such reading on the TV screen can simply tire your eyes. Moreover, the “Accept all” checkbox looms temptingly nearby.
Not for the first time
It is worth remembering that a similar scandal involving a South Korean corporation already occurred in 2015: then the TV was also accused of surveillance, and there were reasons for that. Experts noticed that when the voice recognition function is enabled, user requests are transmitted to third party service, and Samsung can record and collect voice commands and related texts. This was written directly on the official website of the corporation.
Please be aware that if the words you speak include personal or sensitive information, this information will be among the data recorded and transmitted to a third party when you use voice recognition, the developers warn.
What's dangerous about the CIA hacks is that all these cyber weapons are out of control. It has definitely fallen into the hands of one or another attacker, it will spread
CEO of Digital Security Ilya Medvedovsky
Naturally, when the public drew attention to this fact, users who feared for their privacy were not without panic. Samsung management had to comment on these controversial lines. Company representatives stated that to ensure security measures and prevent unauthorized collection or use personal information they adhere to industry standards, including data encryption. Besides, South Korean developers they even advised users not to discuss personal matters in front of a smart TV.
It should be noted that not only Samsung devices were observed spying on users. For example, in 2013, the owner of an LG smart TV noticed that targeted advertising was displayed on one of the main screens. After rummaging through the settings, the man turned off the transmission of information. He then checked the logs on his router and saw that even disabling the option did not stop the smart TV from transmitting data to LG's servers. The user contacted the company's representative office, but they told him that by buying a TV, he agreed to LG's terms and conditions.
It is also interesting that that scandal frightened manufacturing companies so much that the idea of creating televisions equipped with video cameras was actually scrapped - today in Russia you can find only four models of devices of this type various manufacturers. All of them were released no later than 2015, and their cost starts from 250,000 rubles.
How dangerous is it for Russians?
According to general director Digital Security company Ilya Medvedovsky, residents of the Russian Federation should not worry about data leakage through smart devices Samsung.
Russians who bought Samsung TVs can generally sleep peacefully. In this case we are talking about targeted attacks“: implants are placed on those televisions that go to an object of interest to the intelligence services,” the expert explained in a conversation with Life.
This story is dangerous for all of us, for ordinary people, first of all because all these cyber weapons are out of control. It has definitely fallen into the hands of one or another attacker, and it will spread. All these technologies, all these implants and so on are huge, serious and expensive technologies, the implementation of which requires a huge amount of money, because it requires the most serious research. And all this is now in the hands of the attackers,” the director of Digital Security commented on the WikiLeaks leak.
How to protect yourself?
Despite calls from experts not to panic, Life has compiled instructions for the paranoid on how to check their device for hacking. In addition, the authors of the material have prepared tips on how to protect yourself from leakage of personal information.
1. First of all, you need to find out the TV model. If you don’t have a box left, you can do this directly on the device. To do this, you need to turn it on, press the Menu button, select “Support” and find the line “Contact Samsung” at the very bottom. If you see the designation F8000 in the window that opens, it means you are at risk.
2. In the same menu, be sure to look at the firmware version of the TV. The leaked documents say that hackers tested their hacking methods on devices with versions 1111, 1112 and 1116. Therefore, if you have outdated firmware installed, update it immediately (if the device is already infected, it will not update automatically - the hackers took care of this ). To update the firmware yourself, open the menu, select "Support" and in the window that appears, click "Software Update".
3. Turn off the voice control feature. This is unlikely to save you from CIA hackers if the TV is already infected, but at least Samsung employees and third party companies will definitely not get access to your voice messages. However, disabling the option will be quite problematic: you will have to completely reset all the TV settings. To do this, go to the menu, “Support”, open the “Self-diagnosis” option and select the “Reset” line. After this, the device will ask you to enter a password (0000 by default), and then reset all settings to factory settings. Please note that all channels will have to be configured again.
After the reboot, carefully watch what you press when activating the TV: in one of the menus you will need to uncheck the “Voice control” function. Then the TV will stop picking up your voice. You cannot disable voice control without resetting your TV to factory settings.
4. Unfortunately for CIA agents, the hackers were never able to completely disguise the presence of a foreign software on TVs. Therefore, after all the manipulations with updating the firmware and disabling functions, be sure to check several conditions. First, you need to keep an eye on the LEDs on the back panel. If the TV is turned off, but the LEDs still light up periodically, this is a sure sign of surveillance. The documents also indicate that on jailbroken devices, the Samsung logo does not always appear when turned on.
5. Some Samsung TV models have a built-in camera - a favorite hacking device for hackers. And although in the WikiLeaks documents the recording of video clips is mentioned only in the column “Future Plans”, to be on the safe side, we advise you to use Edward Snowden’s method - seal the camera with a plaster or tape. The same thing, by the way, can be done with microphones on the TV and in the remote control.
6. Turn off Wi-Fi. Yes, we understand that after this the TV will lose almost all of its mental abilities, but in this situation you will feel calmer - your confidential data simply will not be able to leak beyond the device.
7. If you watched TV, unplug it. The old method is still relevant. Yes, as a cost you will get settings such as time and date that disappear every time, but this is not the highest price to pay for maintaining your privacy.
As technology develops, the number of connected devices increases and the Internet of Things spreads, the number of gadgets that can be controlled by voice increases.
“Smart” TVs connected to the Internet understand their owners, sitting on the couch opposite, literally at a glance.
However, modern technology has learned not only to carry out orders, but also to spy on users.
It turned out that the owners Samsung Smart TV can be heard not only by those who are near it and with an overly “smart” TV. To confirm this, here is an entry from the company’s official website:
1. You can control your SmartTV and use many of its features using voice commands.
2. If you enable voice recognition, you can control your SmartTV using your voice. For voice recognition to work, some voice commands (along with information about your device, including device identifiers) may be sent to a third-party service that converts the speech into the voice or code needed for voice recognition to work. In addition, Samsung may collect and your device may record voice commands and related text so that we can provide you with voice recognition features and evaluate and improve their performance. Please be aware that if the words you speak include personal or sensitive information, this information will be among the data recorded and transmitted to the third party when you use voice recognition.
3. If you do not enable voice recognition, you will not be able to use interactive voice recognition features, but you will be able to control the TV using certain preset voice commands. Although Samsung will not collect the words you speak, it may still collect relevant text information and other usage data for the purpose of evaluating and improving the performance of the service.
Thus, Samsung is actually spying on its users, and it remains unknown which “third parties” the voice data is transferred to and how it is processed.
However, this is not the first time - several years ago TP Vision, which produces Philips TVs, was seen spying on users, and later the owner of an LG TV noticed that he was being followed.
Then I was able to disable tracking by rummaging through the device settings.
In the case of Samsung, you can disable surveillance, but the voice recognition function will not be fully available, and the smart TV will only obey limited quantity commands Select and buy TVs by good prices Can in our catalog.
Mikhail Kuznetsov , Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru TV expert: “Samsung TVs are most likely to use cloud technologies for some voice functions.
This is why data is transferred from the TV to remote server, as well as for collecting statistics and other official purposes. Naturally, something “extra” may end up in this array, which is what the manufacturer warns about in the above quote. Deliberate espionage is perhaps an exaggeration.
It should be noted that similar technologies They are also used on other equipment, including Smart TVs of other brands.
Theoretically, all this could be hackable with access to audio and video information, even if the screen is turned off, but the TV is connected to the network and is in “sleep mode”
In my opinion, the problem is somewhat exaggerated, and unauthorized access to smart TVs is not yet common».