Many cybersecurity vendors are treating ransomware as the biggest threat of 2016, and to prove the point, a Symantec security researcher showed how easy it can be to infect smart TVs and how difficult it can be to clean up after an infection.
The researcher did not disclose the make and model of the TV, but said it was running a modified version of Google's Android operating system, which many brands use for their smart TV products.
To infect his TV, Symantec's Candid Wueest used a common ransomware family that targets Android devices. This ransomware displays an annoying ransom note every few seconds, overlaying the message on top of the screen and rendering the device inoperable.
Mr. Wueest says that the infection of his device was made possible by the lack of SSL encryption for sensitive communications between the TV and remote servers, used for installing apps or for firmware upgrades.
With a simple MITM (Man-in-the-middle) attack, the researcher installed the ransomware on his device by spoofing a game installation package. The ransomware encountered no obstacles and soon installed itself on the device, blocking its use.
After installing the ransomware, Mr. Wueest read up on methods to remove it. His search wasn't as successful as he would have liked, and he found that the ransom note made it nearly impossible to perform a factory reset, initiate a session with the TV manufacturer's support staff, or perform other functions.
He was eventually able to remove the ransom note, but only because he had enabled the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) tool before installing the malware. This tool allowed him to connect the TV to a laptop and remove the ransomware from there.
In addition to ransomware, Symantec says that Smart TVs are vulnerable to other types of threats. Attackers can take control of Smart TVs to perform click fraud, crypto-currency mining, steal users' personal data, extract various certificates of authenticity used by Smart TV applications, or even add the TV to a DDoS botnet.
To prevent your Smart TV from being infected by malware or to stop malicious actors from performing other types of attacks, Mr. Wueest provided a number of mitigation techniques that Smart TV owners can use.
