How to Protect Your Smart TV From Hacking
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, smart TVs are the worst. Additional software is usually cumbersome enough to get in the way of what you really wanted to watch, and updates don’t come as fast and consistently as they do on offline streaming devices. Most models also have serious privacy concerns , as companies often use them to keep track of what you’re watching. There is another reason to avoid smart TV: you can be hacked.
A Consumer Reports study found Samsung smart TVs are vulnerable to hacking. The vulnerability also affects TVs using the Roku Smart-TV platform . Hackers can apparently take over your TV to change channels, turn up the volume, or (worst of all) play random YouTube videos. They can’t really spy on you or steal your personal information, but that can still be troubling.
For Roku TVs, all a hacker has to do to take control is to infect a computer or mobile device with malware that is connected to the same Wi-Fi as your TV. Samsung TVs are a little harder to hack, but if you’ve used the company’s remote app on your phone, you could be at risk.
If you are worried that your smart TV might be jailbroken, there are several different things you can do to avoid it. When it comes to Samsung TVs, just don’t use the remote app and you should be fine. Unfortunately, Roku TVs are a little more difficult to protect. Your best bet is to turn off your TV’s Wi-Fi connection entirely, essentially turning it into a dumb TV and then plugging it into a separate streaming device.
Of course, the simplest solution is not to buy a smart TV at all. Get a regular TV instead, and if you can’t find one, just buy a computer monitor and plug it directly into your streaming device of choice.