From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

Your smart TV may have been doing more than just streaming programming:
Some apps available on Samsung televisions could turn your home
internet connection into a proxy for strangersA online activity.

Security researchers have discovered residential proxy software
embedded in apps available for Samsung smart TVs, allowing third
parties to route internet traffic through usersA home IP addresses.
Samsung is now cracking down on the practice and says it is working to
remove apps containing the software from its store.

The findings were detailed in a recent investigation by security
researcher Harrison Sand at Mnemonic, which examined residential proxy software found in popular Samsung smart TV apps.

Earlier research from cybersecurity firm Spur similarly found
residential proxy software development kits, or SDKs, in more than a
quarter of the Samsung smart TV apps it examined.

Residential proxy networks allow third parties to route their internet
traffic through another personAs residential internet connection,
making the traffic appear to websites and online services as though it originated from that personAs home IP address. Such networks have
legitimate commercial uses but can also be exploited to disguise
malicious online activity.

One of the apps identified by Mnemonic was a Pac-Man game that Samsung
had promoted to users and featured in its oEditorAs Choiceo section.

Installing the game did not automatically enroll a userAs TV in a proxy network. Instead, the app displayed a consent screen asking the user to
agree to share their internet connection, according to Mnemonic. The researchers said many users, including children, hit accept in order to
get back to the game without realizing it could allow third-party
internet traffic to pass through their home connection.

Some developers behind apps containing the software claim their apps
are already installed on hundreds of millions of smart TVs, according
to TechCrunch.

Following MnemonicAs report, Samsung told TechCrunch that it had begun restricting the use of residential proxy software on its smart TV
platform.

oWe have already restricted new app registrations that incorporate such
proxy functionalities on our Smart TV platform,o a Samsung spokesperson
told TechCrunch. oWe are currently implementing strict platform-wide
developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs, and we
are working to identify and remove all apps currently available in our
store that contain these components.o

SamsungAs move follows a similar crackdown by LG Electronics. Research published earlier this summer by security firm Spur found residential
proxy SDKs in more than 42% of the apps it examined in LGAs webOS
store.
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