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1.3M Android-Based TV Boxes Backdoored; Researchers Still Don't Know How

48 points by m463 2y ago

fnord77 2y ago
that's quite a sizable botnet
- wslh 2y ago
  I can't resist pointing out that, ironically, these devices are compromised before they even have the chance to benefit from NPUs. Imagine the incentive to damage if they were equipped with that kind of processing power, botnets with ML capabilities would be an even bigger target now.
seam_carver 2y ago
Be careful of Android boxes for the TV that are only running plain Android or AOSP. Get one with AndroidTV or GoogleTV, blessed by Google. I personaly use an Onn Box 4K from Walmart.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Blessed by Google but full of ads :(
- croes 2y ago
  How long are there updates for old TV boxes no matter if AOSP, Android TV or Google TV?
- move-on-by 2y ago
  Oh boy, let me tell you about my LG Google TV (55GA7900). It was awesome when it was brand new, I really enjoyed being able to install various apps (this is pre-roku days where it wasn't common place). After a couple years, they moved on to Android TV - but everything still worked and they still pushed out some occasional updates. Well, a few more years went by and it became EOL. LG pushed out one final update which fixed a few things and disabled the update feature altogether (Android 4.2.2). Well guess what? The update was junk and made it where you could not scan for over-the-air channels. The scanner would just crash and no channels would be found. There was no way to go directly to a channel or manual add channels - scan only. So here I was with a smart tv that couldn't even watch TV over the air. I'm sure LG was also to blame, not just Google, but I sure wouldn't buy or recommend a google TV. Looks like they are now switching back to Google TV and the poor folks who were duped into getting an Android TV will be the next to experience abandonment.
  - Sayrus 2y ago
    LG WebOS is just as bad. It used to load in a second but after a few update, booting up the TV takes 10 to 30 seconds. They changed where it boots to. You don't have any image or app menu by default anymore. They changed Terms and Conditions so many times, reenabling tracking defaults as they see fit. Seeing how they support their own OS, I'm not surprised they broke support on Android-TV.
- joezydeco 2y ago
  My hunch is that most of these "Android TVs" are cheap jailbroken devices loaded with Kodi and links to servers full of pirated content. These things have been around a long time.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Actual report: https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=14900 https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=14900 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41536961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41536961)
keepamovin 2y ago
Maybe backdoored at the factory
RockRobotRock 2y ago
Nobody cares about hacking home networks. They probably sell them as residential proxy IPs.
andrewstuart 2y ago
How do they know how many?

48 points by m463 2y ago

fnord77 2y ago

that's quite a sizable botnet

wslh 2y ago
I can't resist pointing out that, ironically, these devices are compromised before they even have the chance to benefit from NPUs. Imagine the incentive to damage if they were equipped with that kind of processing power, botnets with ML capabilities would be an even bigger target now.

seam_carver 2y ago

Be careful of Android boxes for the TV that are only running plain Android or AOSP. Get one with AndroidTV or GoogleTV, blessed by Google. I personaly use an Onn Box 4K from Walmart.

wkat4242 2y ago
Blessed by Google but full of ads :(
croes 2y ago
How long are there updates for old TV boxes no matter if AOSP, Android TV or Google TV?
move-on-by 2y ago
Oh boy, let me tell you about my LG Google TV (55GA7900). It was awesome when it was brand new, I really enjoyed being able to install various apps (this is pre-roku days where it wasn't common place). After a couple years, they moved on to Android TV - but everything still worked and they still pushed out some occasional updates. Well, a few more years went by and it became EOL. LG pushed out one final update which fixed a few things and disabled the update feature altogether (Android 4.2.2). Well guess what? The update was junk and made it where you could not scan for over-the-air channels. The scanner would just crash and no channels would be found. There was no way to go directly to a channel or manual add channels - scan only. So here I was with a smart tv that couldn't even watch TV over the air. I'm sure LG was also to blame, not just Google, but I sure wouldn't buy or recommend a google TV. Looks like they are now switching back to Google TV and the poor folks who were duped into getting an Android TV will be the next to experience abandonment.
- Sayrus 2y ago
  LG WebOS is just as bad. It used to load in a second but after a few update, booting up the TV takes 10 to 30 seconds. They changed where it boots to. You don't have any image or app menu by default anymore. They changed Terms and Conditions so many times, reenabling tracking defaults as they see fit. Seeing how they support their own OS, I'm not surprised they broke support on Android-TV.
joezydeco 2y ago
My hunch is that most of these "Android TVs" are cheap jailbroken devices loaded with Kodi and links to servers full of pirated content. These things have been around a long time.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Actual report: https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=14900 https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=14900 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41536961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41536961)

keepamovin 2y ago

Maybe backdoored at the factory

RockRobotRock 2y ago

Nobody cares about hacking home networks. They probably sell them as residential proxy IPs.

andrewstuart 2y ago

How do they know how many?