back to article Samsung reminds rabble to scan smart TVs for viruses – then tries to make them forget

Samsung on Sunday sent out a tweet urging people to check their Sammy smart TVs for viruses – and then deleted the message, as if someone realized that highlighting the risks posed by connected TVs may be bad for business. The Twitter post, sent via the South Korean manufacturer's @SamsungSupport account, remains preserved for …

  1. J. R. Hartley

    Christ's chin!

    Technology Company In Honesty Shocker!

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Christ's chin!

      Well, they get points for posting and now are losing more points for deleting it and not responding. They'll get a few back if they respond. Maybe.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the NSA pulled the tweet, as they were worried they couldn't spy on their victims using the camera and microphone built into Samsung TV's any more.

    1. Oliver Mayes

      They will still be able to. That's part of the software, not a virus.

      1. J. Cook Silver badge
        Big Brother

        Yep. That's a feature, not a flaw. We all Love Big Brother and know that he looks in on us every now and again.

  3. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
    WTF?

    OK, I'll bite

    How do I scan by Samsung Smart TV for viruses?

    1. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: OK, I'll bite

      The tweet contained a short video (00:19) that presumably showed the method. That didn't play when pressing the buttons on the wayback machine. One could probably look at the page source and find the URL of the video, which might still exist, but I don't own such a TV and I'm far too lazy to bother with that.

      Incidentally, the tweets from Samsung in reply to this one are somewhat pathetic. People replied with sarcastic jokes that seeing advertising on television was a symptom of malware, and Samsung's response was "We are sorry to hear that you are having this problem. Please send us a DM with the model number of your phone." Maybe this is why they took the tweet down.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: We are sorry to hear that you are having this problem

        I think you mistake humans for bots, do you really think they employ any humans to write those tweets?

      2. Wade Burchette

        Re: OK, I'll bite

        That sounds like Microsoft support forums. The only answer you get from Microsoft employees on those forums is a boilerplate answer. Many times, the boilerplate answer will have something the person said they already tried.

    2. Oliver Mayes

      Re: OK, I'll bite

      They have a built-in virus scanner (that apparently won't just run on a schedule by itself?). The video in the tweet went through about a dozen menus to get to the option to run it manually.

  4. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
    Stop

    On another note...

    The retrieval of the tweet reminded me of this question. So, how often does the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine get a take down order from some EU snowflake wanting their "right to forget" enforced?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: On another note...

      Probably never. The right to be forgotten refers to search engine results, not original material. You could use it to stop Google finding it in the archive, but not it being in the archive if you already know where to look.

      1. big_D

        Re: On another note...

        The right to be forgotten applies to both websites and search engines.

        But many websites (public record) can't take the post down for legal reasons that outweigh the right to be fogoten, which is why the search engines have to delist the page for specific search terms.

        But I would also guess that 99% of people wishing to be forgotten have never heard of the way back machine.

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          Re: On another note...

          big_D,

          The right to be forgotten is specific to search. Or actually isn't specific to search, it's just that the search engines were ignoring pre-existing law until forced to comply by the courts. And that judgement got given a shorthand name.

          There is no requirement to delete data. But for things like spent convictions you're simply not allowed to keep mentioning them. So they've always been in newspaper archives, but because the newspaper industry has generally complied with the law for the last half century they didn't keep mentioning them on their front pages. But the info was alawys still there to find in old copies and archives.

          1. big_D

            Re: On another note...

            Exactly. My reply was a little too simplified.

    2. Empire of the Pussycat
      Coat

      Re: On another note...

      probably not as often as from snowflake brexiter whiners

    3. sabroni Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: some EU snowflake

      Says the poster taking umbrage at a fictitious event they've just imagined.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Or.. you could make sure the T.V. is on it's own isolated network.

    From my (limited) understanding of Samsung's T's&C's, running a Samsung T.V. through any ad blocking system such as a PiHole could be a violation of the agreement.

    Also, reading the T's&C's of a Samsung Blu-Ray player made mention that laws were held and adminstered under Korean jurisdiction.

    Again, I could be wrong as I am not an attorney and in no way could fully understand any of it.

    (Which is the way it is intended I believe)

    1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

      It's a bloody TV!

      Try telling Mom and Pop that!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Samsung reminds rabble to scan smart TVs for viruses

    Either the people designing the systems are incompetent or such systems are designed with built-in security flaws in order to facilitate easier cracking by the spooks.

    El Reg Mar 2007: “Amazing new WikiLeaks CIA bombshell: Agents can install software on Apple Macs, iPhones right in front of them”

    1. Joe W Silver badge

      Re: Samsung reminds rabble to scan smart TVs for viruses

      Nope, not stupid, just economical with money and time.

      The systems contain basically a computer with OS. You know, like e.g. a cellphone, tablet, notebook, netbook, HPC cluster... Yes, manufacturers could in principle roll their own hard- and software, but just taking a standard solution is so much easier, cheaper, quicker, and likely[1] to be more secure than a system that has all the features you[2] want and that has to be developed anew. These will have bugs and security holes. Hell, a network switch has a limited OS running on specialised hardware and it still can have security holes.

      The only solution for the customer is not to play: do not buy a "smart" TV and hook up the "dumb" TV (which is just a screen) to a regular PC running a normal OS of your choice with regular security updates if you want any "smart" features.

      [1] if the system is patched / updated regularly. This should be possible if it was really an off-the-shelf solution - which is a bit of a theoretical musing. In principle Android is standard and off-the-shelf (that is: the core of Android, but every vendor puts in stupid stuff), and look at the state of security updates...

      [2] well, any of: the manufacturer, customer, or even three-letter-agency, but I disgress

      1. hotdamn

        Re: Samsung reminds rabble to scan smart TVs for viruses

        unds like a great gimmick. Let peoples tvs get hacked and ruined, blame the hackers, and voila!- New tv sales from the lemmings-er customers.

  7. big_D
    Facepalm

    Oh, well, that's okay then...

    This also is true for your QLED TV if it's connected to Wi-Fi!

    My TV is connected by Ethernet, so it won't be vulnerable!

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Oh, well, that's okay then...

      My TV is connected to the internet by two tin cans and a piece of string...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh, well, that's okay then...

        "My TV is connected to the internet by two tin cans and a piece of string..."

        You just described how the built-in speakers of my Samsung TV sound.

        1. Baldrickk

          Re: Oh, well, that's okay then...

          Ah, the trouble I had getting my sister to use my proper speakers for watching movies.

          My new TV lets me disable the internal speakers entirely, so I can't have this problem any more.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh, well, that's okay then...

        you're with talk-talk too?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh, well, that's okay then...

      If you're TV's OK, don't forget your microwave.

      A quick 20 minute blast on high should not only kill malware but also any bacteria in the microwave too. If you want to be really careful, don't put anything in the microwave during the cleaning cycle to ensure maximum cleanliness.

      Chant "fire cleanses everything" if you think it helps...

  8. Snorlax Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Hey Samsung...

    Maybe if ya didn't make your TV's vulnerable to hacking by government agencies we wouldn't need a friggin telly antivirus.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hey Samsung...

      Just because the government can hack something doesn't mean the manufacturer made it vulnerable deliberately.

      I mean have you seen how crap most of this software is? It's barely functional for what it's supposed to do let alone pretend to be secure.

  9. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "According to market research firm IHS Markit, smart TVs represented 70 per cent of all goggle-boxes shipped last year globally."

    What a pity their market research didn't extend to something really useful: listing the 30%.

    1. Joe W Silver badge

      Yeah, a not-smart TV set is hard to find, and the "smart" ones are often cheaper. And the "smart" ones stop working after a while (software updates / eol'd programs, APIs etc). Glad we still have one that is just a screen...

      1. doublelayer Silver badge

        My family bought a smart TV, and quickly realized that they did not want any of its smart capabilities. It has been told to forget the network, the WiFi credentials were changed, and I added a firewall rule to block any packets coming from the TV's MAC address in case it has the smarts to read my mind and guess the new password. It has been relegated to a simple panel with an unused processor somewhere in it.

  10. Tigra 07
    Devil

    Sorry, couldn't resist

    In Soviet Russia 2019 TV watches You!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sorry, couldn't resist

      Yes, you have to log into BBC IPlayer before you're allowed to watch any programmes these days, just so that they can log your viewing habits.

      1. mark l 2 Silver badge

        Re: Sorry, couldn't resist

        Kodi plugins can play BBC Iplayer content without requiring a login, ditto for getiplayer.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Sorry, couldn't resist

        "Yes, you have to log into BBC IPlayer before you're allowed to watch any programmes these days, just so that they can log your viewing habits."

        It's also part of the TV licensing enforcement. You need a licence to watch live/near live broadcasts or streams AND to watch iPlayer. If you only ever watch, eg Netflix or Amazon, then you don't.

    2. adam 40

      Re: Sorry, couldn't resist

      Surely:

      In 1984 TV watches You!

  11. whitepines
    Megaphone

    Am I the only one agreeing with some of the more vocal responses to this that involve basically holding the manufacturer responsible for all patching, scanning, updates, etc. for their Internet-connected product for the physical life of the product (meaning, if you remote brick it early to save maintenance, you get to pay out the sticker price of the item at purchase back to the owner)?

    This is a product that is locked to prevent the owner from tinkering with it in any way (DRM etc.). I'd go so far as to say that requiring the "owner" of a product like that to do anything should be illegal --- it either works, or it doesn't and the manufacturer gets sued for creating the botnet. Isn't that what DRM is, that the vendor always knows best and the idiot user can't be trusted to follow the law? Door swings both ways -- idiot manufacturer should be sued for every bit of damage the botnet(s) do, every privacy invasion, etc. as they *explicitly* locked the end user out and put themselves in the drivers seat here, then basically jumped out of the car and said "passenger, it's all your responsibility now but you can't touch the steering wheel or pedals!".

    I have a dumb telly. I have zero interest in upgrading to a "smart" telly unless I can dig around in its guts and reprogram it the way I want. If that's not allowed, I have a shelf of good books, a nice game system that works just fine offline, and plenty of other ways to keep myself amused not involving telly at all.

    1. IanRS

      What telly?

      I replaced my telly with a fish tank some years ago. Much more interesting to watch. Although members of the cast do die off occasionally, I don't believe it has suffered a security breach.

      1. Martin Summers

        Re: What telly?

        "I don't believe it has suffered a security breach."

        I don't know how big your fish tank is but don't be so sure:

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48515956

        Also, watch out for that little diver bloke innocently standing there blowing bubbles. He's up to something...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What telly?

        Well.... https://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-stole-a-casinos-database-through-a-thermometer-in-the-lobby-fish-tank-2018-4

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So your smart TV has a virus, now what?

    Samsung tends to stop providing updates two years after manufacturing. So you get a virus on your TV. Sure you can reset the TV back to factory, but without updates what's to stop reinfection? People do not throw away perfectly good appliances every two years. If manufacturers are going to insist on jamming full computational abilities and preinstalled applications into durable goods then they need a long term plan for maintaining those appliances beyond the first two years.

    Or just stop with the embedded "smart" features and leave content to external devices.

    1. Dr. Mouse

      Re: So your smart TV has a virus, now what?

      People do not throw away perfectly good appliances every two years.

      I know more than one person who does, at least if I include all those who buy a new appliance and put the old one in a cupboard until the cupboard is full of old appliances and they throw them all out simultaneously.

      1. Korev Silver badge

        Re: So your smart TV has a virus, now what?

        Where does your acquaintance leave all these (asking for a friend...)

    2. JLV

      Re: So your smart TV has a virus, now what?

      >Samsung tends to stop providing updates two years after manufacturing.

      If only. My old-ish Sammy TV regularly updates its long list of bloatware I never use (un-removable all, natch) during which time it is unusable. Of course it has to install at startup rather than shutdown. Sometimes you can’t really tell it’s doing that so its smart functions look dead (I use Netflix and Amazon).

      The one thing they couldn’t be bothered to do was providing a new Youtube app when Google sunsetted the (Flash-based?) old one. No more Youtube.

      Bought it in a fit of open mindedness soon after they were battling Apple’s rounded corners. Never again. Only thing is people don’t seem all that happy about competitors like LG.

  13. JimmyPage
    Flame

    JUST SELL THE FUCKING SCREEN !!!!!

    I hope there are big bucks waiting for the fist manufacturer to twig that a lot of people are happy to buy a dumb screen and plug their smartness into it. Making the smartness independently upgradable from the display.

    Funny, but "Smart monitors" never caught on.

    My 5 year old LGs "smart" features are never used now. Chromecast does me fine.

    1. Waseem Alkurdi
      Trollface

      Re: JUST SELL THE FUCKING SCREEN !!!!!

      Do you mean that I should take my own $OLD_LAPTOP and install Linux, a TV capture card, MythTV, and cheapo IR/Bluetooth remote control? That's so 2005! (/s, of course).

      Smart TVs are just a polished implementation of "computer hooked up to TV", except that it's worse as for support after EoL.

      1. JLV

        Re: JUST SELL THE FUCKING SCREEN !!!!!

        There’s a sizeable energy inefficiency consideration if everyone had to run (hours a day) a full-fat PC to add basic Netflix/Amazon/Youtube support which a smartphone-type system-on-a-chip can handle using a trickle of power. Chromecast is good - I use it to watch Youtube - but ... Google, and it doesn’t support competitors like Amazon.

        It’s an Idiot Box. Don’t want to have to fiddle overmuch with it, rather fiddle on actual software and servers.

  14. Carl D

    Ah, brings back memories of the days when all a TV had was a (rotary) channel selector, a brightness, contrast and volume control on the front.

    Not even color or a remote control - you had to get up and walk to the TV to change channels.

    And, all it had on the back was a power cord and a 300ohm ribbon connector or a 75ohm cable antenna socket.

    Here's a picture of me sitting next to one of our long lost TV friends - and a black & white one as well (taken around about 1971 or 72, we didn't get color TV in Australia until 1975).

    https://i.imgur.com/GgJWPvC.jpg

    I miss those days... only had 3 channels to choose from back then. But, at least the programs on all 3 were worth watching unlike today with dozens of channels and rubbish on all of them most of the time.

    1. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
      FAIL

      "But, at least the programs on all 3 were worth watching"

      Gone senile already, have we? Or just experiencing selective memory loss?

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      all a TV had was a (rotary) channel selector, a brightness, contrast and volume control on the front

      The b&w set that provided Saturday-morning cartoons and weekday-afternoon educational programs in my youth also had vertical hold adjustment, horizontal hold adjustment, and fine-tuning knobs - the last particularly necessary for always-chancy UHF programming in the US.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can't Afford the BBC Licence Anyway

    Every few years I think about getting a new TV (monitor). Every time the options get less. I can't get one with a power switch or one which I can use disconnected from the internet with a usable programme guide. I have not been able to find a suitable (Big enough) PC monitor that I could use with a separate tuner/PVR and still be able to control the basics like volume, picture settings etc remotely - why not?

    I guess I might be able to find a professional broadcasters' monitor if I searched hard enough and had a big enough stash of cash.

    What does the BBC do with its old ones when they get dusty?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If the TV is really intelligent

    then it should have no problem discovering the password to access my WiFi network. Cause' I'm not giving it.

  17. Michael Jarve
    Joke

    Well, back in the day...

    Back in the day, my RCA CTC-120 chassis 24-inch television needed to have the solder re-flowed about once a decade or risk severe picture key-stoning. It was half an hour's job, including discharging the HV anode, to prevent a shocking experience, and I'd usually perform convergence at the same time. I personally haven't owned a TV in 20 years, but I suppose downloading software updates and scanning for malware once or twice a month is no worse than changing out the 6FQ6 or 6DJ8 tube from back then. The fact that you no longer have to deal with a flyback coil just to perform maintenance on your TV these days is amazing! What will they think of next!?

  18. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    FAIL

    "Smart TV"--> IoT --PoS security.

    Do not want.Do not need. Samsung do win some points for honesty, which they lost when they deleted the comment.

    Samsung, like every IoT maker, should get their head out their backside and realize they are now a (specialist) computer manufacturer.

    Viruses and security are now part of you design problems.

    TV's with endless f**king on screen menus are bad enough but then plugging them into the internet for bonus fu**witedness. Up with this s**t I will not put.

  19. RedCardinal

    ahh tvs

    I'm still using my 1st generation flat screen tv I bought way back in 2005. Works fine. But then I don't need Netflix or any of that other pish.

    1. David Nash

      Re: ahh tvs

      When the term "flat-screen" first started appearing it was referring to the front of the tube being less curved.

      Then when actual flat screens came out, it began to be used in that sense.

      Now all TVs are "flat-screen" unless you are talking about an ancient CRT.

      But still various media use the term as a prefix, usually and bizarrely to denote some form of luxury, eg. when complaining that prisoners have "flat-screen TVs".

      Hmm, actually I think I've seen new curved screens in the shops now, so maybe "flat-screens" is coming to mean "old-fashioned"?

  20. Jamie Jones Silver badge

    Dumb screens all the way

    Ever since I was a teenager, my dream of an ideal AV system was a huge screen with nothing else, not even speakers.

    It wasn't a novel thought - this was the time hi-fi seperates were all the rage - I just couldn't see why it wasn't taken further.

    These days, it's even more relevant - TV's come with software thaf is rarely updated, if ever, and services that tend to be defunct after 6 months.

    Why bother, when you can get a "smart box" for £30 and even if it's not updated, replace it with a new one after a year. The screen should survive far longer than that!

  21. tcmonkey

    The only "smart TV" that I have ever owned or liked is an older commercial LCD from Sammy. The smarts come from a fully integrated x64 PC living under the covers. I control the OS choice and the software stack, and the TV makes sure that the PC boots when the telly is turned on, shuts it down when the screen is turned off and sets the input accordingly. Magic.

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