Samsung to ban smart TV apps that turn TVs into residential proxies
Samsung says it will ban smart TV apps that expose users' internet connections, following a discovery that some apps can route strangers' web traffic through home networks.
Samsung is tightening security on its smart TV app platform after a cybersecurity firm found that certain apps could use a viewer's home internet connection to relay traffic from unknown parties, making the requests appear to originate from the user.
Mnemonic, the cybersecurity company that identified the issue, pointed to one specific app: a licensed Pac-Man game that Samsung had featured in the Editor's Choice section of its app store. According to Mnemonic, installing the game could turn the TV into a "residential proxy exit node" at the flip of a switch.
When TechCrunch asked Samsung about the vulnerability, the company responded that it would ban any apps that share users' internet connections. A Samsung spokesperson also said it would implement strict platform-wide developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs. Such SDKs can remain dormant inside an app until activated to route someone else's web traffic through the TV's connected internet.
This issue is not exclusive to Samsung. Last month, LG said it would suspend any apps capable of turning a customer's TV into a residential proxy. Beyond smart TVs, residential proxies have also been a problem for VPNs, especially free ones.
