In a recent YouTube video, electronics maker LG makes claims about the security of its TVs regarding how they access and transmit your information. After the website Gamers Nexus posted a two-hour YouTube video claiming that TVs made by the company are capable of listening to real-time conversations even if the TV’s voice commands are never used, LG responded that these claims were not true. Either way, the news might remind some users of a time when smart TVs were actually dumber.
The video was published on September 6 and has already been viewed more than 4 million times on the platform. In the video, the creators claim that a third party is able to hack LG TVs to make them listen to conversations even if a user has disabled the device’s microphone. According to the video, this is partly possible thanks to an advertising function built into the televisions. Notably, some LG smart TVs have an automatic content recognition feature that sends certain user information, such as viewing habits, to the company for advertising purposes.
In an article published by CNET, LG responded to the report by stating that the claims in the video were not true. According to the company, voice data is only processed when a user activates a voice control button on their remote control or uses the TV’s wake word. LG also claims that the audio used for wake word detection is processed locally, immediately deleted, and never sent to its servers in the event of a false positive. Either way, this certainly isn’t the first time smart TVs have been accused of collecting user data without consent.
LG denies report’s privacy and security claims
Compiled with the help of Level1Techs, the two-hour video from Gamers Nexus details how the group was able to use a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on an LG G5 TV. If you’re unfamiliar, this type of attack typically involves a bad actor intercepting communications between two parties, and Gamers Nexus claims that a compromised TV was capable of recording audio even though the device didn’t have an active internet connection. The source says this capability is partly due to an exploit in LG’s automatic content recognition feature.
The video also mentions that a hacker controlling the TV can potentially access audio from an HDMI input or USB webcam, even if the TV’s microphone itself is disabled. Additionally, the video also claims that those involved were able to access the IP addresses of other devices connected to a network, regardless of whether they had a connection to the TV. LG responded by stating that many smart TVs have the ability to search for and connect to other nearby devices.
The company also mentions that LG microphones are designed to listen for a wake word and perform user-requested actions. As CNET notes, content recognition on smart TVs is nothing new, and many devices will also record your voice for a few moments after hearing a wake word. Of course, there are ways to prevent a smart TV from spying on your activities, but the video’s authors also recommend removing LG TVs from a network to potentially offset the risk of attacks for the time being.
