Smart-TV Security Analysis: Practical Experiments

Modern home networks are becoming more and more complex with the integration of various types of interconnected smart devices, using heterogeneous networking technologies. Many of these devices are also connected to the Internet, generally through an integrated access device. Those smart devices are potentially vulnerable to several types of attacks. In this practical experience report we investigate the specific case of smart TVs. The main objective is to experimentally explore possible attack vectors and identify practically exploitable vulnerabilities and attack scenarios. In particular, the study covers local and remote attacks using different entry points, including the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) transmission channel and the copper-pair local loop. Several methods, allowing to observe and simulate service provider networks, are used to support several experiments considering four types of commercially available smart TVs for a comparative analysis. We also discuss several methods allowing to extract and analyze the embedded firmware, and obtain relevant information concerning target devices.