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[Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal

Started byRich <rich@example.invalid>
First post2019-06-17 20:07 +0000
Last post2019-06-24 00:12 +0000
Articles 12 — 6 participants

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  [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2019-06-17 20:07 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-06-18 20:35 -0400
      Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2019-06-19 09:17 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Bruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com> - 2019-06-19 22:35 +0100
          Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2019-06-20 06:56 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Shadow <Sh@dow.br> - 2019-06-20 13:56 -0300
      Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2019-06-20 19:04 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Shadow <Sh@dow.br> - 2019-06-23 17:25 -0300
          Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2019-06-23 21:59 +0000
            Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Bruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com> - 2019-06-23 23:44 +0100
              Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2019-06-24 08:50 +0000
          Re: [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2019-06-24 00:12 +0000

#18233 — [Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal

FromRich <rich@example.invalid>
Date2019-06-17 20:07 +0000
Subject[Link Posting] The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal
Message-ID<RIYGwiljEMazohMc5fylN27Z@dont-email.me>
      ####################################################################
      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
      ####################################################################

<URL:https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8qbq5x/the-cia-spied-on-people-t
hrough-their-smart-tvs-leaked-documents-reveal>

The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>
>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of colleagues
>  from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to secretly spy on
>  targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according to new documents
>  published by WikiLeaks.
>
>  On Tuesday, WikiLeaks dumped a large cache of documents allegedly coming
>  from the CIA's hacking unit. Julian Assange's organization dubbed the
>  release, which it says it's the first in a series, as "Vault 7," and
>  billed it as the largest-ever of confidential CIA intelligence
>  documents.
>
>  "Weeping Angel already hooks key presses [...] to cause the system to
>  enter Fake-Off rather than Off."
>
>  The CIA and MI5 called the project to spy on Samsung Smart TVs "Weeping
>  Angel," perhaps a reference to Doctor Who, where weeping angels are "the
>  deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form ever produced." The
>  malware was designed to keep the smart TVs on even when they were turned
>  off. This was dubbed "Fake-Off mode," according to the documents. The
>  CIA hackers even developed a way to "suppress" the TVs LED indicators to
>  improve the "Fake-Off" mode.
>
>  ...

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#18244

FromRS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
Date2019-06-18 20:35 -0400
Message-ID<2jcotf-li5.ln1@rasp.therandymon.com>
In reply to#18233
On 2019-06-17, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of
>>  colleagues from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to
>>  secretly spy on targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according
>>  to new documents published by WikiLeaks.

As if we needed one, this provides yet another good reason to avoid this
technology like the plague.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my bunker, sharpening my knife.

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#18254

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2019-06-19 09:17 +0000
Message-ID<gmuctuFsjjfU4@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#18244
On 2019-06-19, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> On 2019-06-17, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of
>>>  colleagues from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to
>>>  secretly spy on targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according
>>>  to new documents published by WikiLeaks.
>
> As if we needed one, this provides yet another good reason to avoid this
> technology like the plague.

You should avoid anything that calls itself "Smart".

-- 
Today is Setting Orange, the 24th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3185
                  Rising above bedlam

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#18267

FromBruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com>
Date2019-06-19 22:35 +0100
Message-ID<5c7daf60-bc39-95e0-0751-26264cada958@scorecrow.com>
In reply to#18254
On 19/06/2019 10:17, Huge wrote:
> On 2019-06-19, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
>> On 2019-06-17, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>>>   Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of
>>>>   colleagues from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to
>>>>   secretly spy on targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according
>>>>   to new documents published by WikiLeaks.
>>
>> As if we needed one, this provides yet another good reason to avoid this
>> technology like the plague.
> 
> You should avoid anything that calls itself "Smart".
> 

Smart telly; smart phone; smart motorway...

SMART - Surveillance Marketed As Revolutionary Technology

-- 
Bruce Horrocks
Surrey
England
(bruce at scorecrow dot com)

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#18269

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2019-06-20 06:56 +0000
Message-ID<gn0p01Fe2buU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#18267
On 2019-06-19, Bruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:
> On 19/06/2019 10:17, Huge wrote:
>> On 2019-06-19, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
>>> On 2019-06-17, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>   Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of
>>>>>   colleagues from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to
>>>>>   secretly spy on targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according
>>>>>   to new documents published by WikiLeaks.
>>>
>>> As if we needed one, this provides yet another good reason to avoid this
>>> technology like the plague.
>> 
>> You should avoid anything that calls itself "Smart".
>> 
>
> Smart telly; smart phone; smart motorway...
>
> SMART - Surveillance Marketed As Revolutionary Technology

Precisely. (And I shall steal that acronym!)


-- 
Today is Sweetmorn, the 25th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3185
                  Rising above bedlam

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#18270

FromShadow <Sh@dow.br>
Date2019-06-20 13:56 -0300
Message-ID<dedngepsjtqpep249cbf0s6j6ds5e7i13e@4ax.com>
In reply to#18233
On Mon, 17 Jun 2019 20:07:44 +0000 (UTC), Rich <rich@example.invalid>
wrote:

>      ####################################################################
>      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
>      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
>      ####################################################################
>
><URL:https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8qbq5x/the-cia-spied-on-people-t
>hrough-their-smart-tvs-leaked-documents-reveal>
>
>The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>>
>>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of colleagues
>>  from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to secretly spy on
>>  targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according to new documents
>>  published by WikiLeaks.
>>
>>  On Tuesday, WikiLeaks dumped a large cache of documents allegedly coming
>>  from the CIA's hacking unit. Julian Assange's organization dubbed the
>>  release, which it says it's the first in a series, as "Vault 7," and
>>  billed it as the largest-ever of confidential CIA intelligence
>>  documents.
>>
>>  "Weeping Angel already hooks key presses [...] to cause the system to
>>  enter Fake-Off rather than Off."
>>
>>  The CIA and MI5 called the project to spy on Samsung Smart TVs "Weeping
>>  Angel," perhaps a reference to Doctor Who, where weeping angels are "the
>>  deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form ever produced." The
>>  malware was designed to keep the smart TVs on even when they were turned
>>  off. This was dubbed "Fake-Off mode," according to the documents. The
>>  CIA hackers even developed a way to "suppress" the TVs LED indicators to
>>  improve the "Fake-Off" mode.
>>

	I airdumped my "Smart" TV using my WiFi card ages ago and
caught it phoning home. It was an oldish TV, I don't think it took
pics of/recorded audio of/filmed  people using it, there was too
little traffic for that. Probably just relaying the filenames of
whatever movies/documents I was loading via USB. The traffic was
encrypted, so I could only see quantity, not content.

	https://www.aircrack-ng.org/

	It's an interesting tool. Linux-only (unless you have an
adaptor that runs in promiscuous mode under Windows).

	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
being used ..... by her.
	[]'s
-- 
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy  - Google 2012

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#18271

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2019-06-20 19:04 +0000
Message-ID<gn23lnFnd7pU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#18270
On 2019-06-20, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
> On Mon, 17 Jun 2019 20:07:44 +0000 (UTC), Rich <rich@example.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>      ####################################################################
>>      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
>>      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
>>      ####################################################################
>>
>><URL:https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8qbq5x/the-cia-spied-on-people-t
>>hrough-their-smart-tvs-leaked-documents-reveal>
>>
>>The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>>>
>>>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of colleagues
>>>  from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to secretly spy on
>>>  targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according to new documents
>>>  published by WikiLeaks.
>>>
>>>  On Tuesday, WikiLeaks dumped a large cache of documents allegedly coming
>>>  from the CIA's hacking unit. Julian Assange's organization dubbed the
>>>  release, which it says it's the first in a series, as "Vault 7," and
>>>  billed it as the largest-ever of confidential CIA intelligence
>>>  documents.
>>>
>>>  "Weeping Angel already hooks key presses [...] to cause the system to
>>>  enter Fake-Off rather than Off."
>>>
>>>  The CIA and MI5 called the project to spy on Samsung Smart TVs "Weeping
>>>  Angel," perhaps a reference to Doctor Who, where weeping angels are "the
>>>  deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form ever produced." The
>>>  malware was designed to keep the smart TVs on even when they were turned
>>>  off. This was dubbed "Fake-Off mode," according to the documents. The
>>>  CIA hackers even developed a way to "suppress" the TVs LED indicators to
>>>  improve the "Fake-Off" mode.
>>>
>
> 	I airdumped my "Smart" TV using my WiFi card ages ago and
> caught it phoning home. It was an oldish TV, I don't think it took
> pics of/recorded audio of/filmed  people using it, there was too
> little traffic for that. Probably just relaying the filenames of
> whatever movies/documents I was loading via USB. The traffic was
> encrypted, so I could only see quantity, not content.
>
> 	https://www.aircrack-ng.org/
>
> 	It's an interesting tool. Linux-only (unless you have an
> adaptor that runs in promiscuous mode under Windows).
>
> 	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
> being used ..... by her.

I block all that with my PiHole.


-- 
Today is Sweetmorn, the 25th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3185
                  Rising above bedlam

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]


#18292

FromShadow <Sh@dow.br>
Date2019-06-23 17:25 -0300
Message-ID<iqnvge1hj8gll3lokdulni07nfshke5dh5@4ax.com>
In reply to#18271
On 20 Jun 2019 19:04:23 GMT, Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:

>On 2019-06-20, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
>> On Mon, 17 Jun 2019 20:07:44 +0000 (UTC), Rich <rich@example.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>      ####################################################################
>>>      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
>>>      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
>>>      ####################################################################
>>>
>>><URL:https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8qbq5x/the-cia-spied-on-people-t
>>>hrough-their-smart-tvs-leaked-documents-reveal>
>>>
>>>The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>>>>
>>>>  Hackers at the Central Intelligence Agency, with the help of colleagues
>>>>  from the British spy agency MI5, developed malware to secretly spy on
>>>>  targets through their Samsung Smart TVs, according to new documents
>>>>  published by WikiLeaks.
>>>>
>>>>  On Tuesday, WikiLeaks dumped a large cache of documents allegedly coming
>>>>  from the CIA's hacking unit. Julian Assange's organization dubbed the
>>>>  release, which it says it's the first in a series, as "Vault 7," and
>>>>  billed it as the largest-ever of confidential CIA intelligence
>>>>  documents.
>>>>
>>>>  "Weeping Angel already hooks key presses [...] to cause the system to
>>>>  enter Fake-Off rather than Off."
>>>>
>>>>  The CIA and MI5 called the project to spy on Samsung Smart TVs "Weeping
>>>>  Angel," perhaps a reference to Doctor Who, where weeping angels are "the
>>>>  deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form ever produced." The
>>>>  malware was designed to keep the smart TVs on even when they were turned
>>>>  off. This was dubbed "Fake-Off mode," according to the documents. The
>>>>  CIA hackers even developed a way to "suppress" the TVs LED indicators to
>>>>  improve the "Fake-Off" mode.
>>>>
>>
>> 	I airdumped my "Smart" TV using my WiFi card ages ago and
>> caught it phoning home. It was an oldish TV, I don't think it took
>> pics of/recorded audio of/filmed  people using it, there was too
>> little traffic for that. Probably just relaying the filenames of
>> whatever movies/documents I was loading via USB. The traffic was
>> encrypted, so I could only see quantity, not content.
>>
>> 	https://www.aircrack-ng.org/
>>
>> 	It's an interesting tool. Linux-only (unless you have an
>> adaptor that runs in promiscuous mode under Windows).
>>
>> 	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
>> being used ..... by her.
>
>I block all that with my PiHole.

	You built your own wireless router? Closed source or open
firmware? What OS? Can you monitor the log? I'm interested.
	I used to run a router (not wireless though) off a CD on an
old 486. Read only, logs in RAM, any hack was gone in a reboot. But
that was eons ago.
	[]'s
-- 
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy  - Google 2012

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#18293

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2019-06-23 21:59 +0000
Message-ID<gnab1tFgm64U1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#18292
On 2019-06-23, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
> On 20 Jun 2019 19:04:23 GMT, Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:
>

>>>
>>> 	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
>>> being used ..... by her.
>>
>>I block all that with my PiHole.
>
> 	You built your own wireless router? 

Oh, sorry, no. I was talking about "Smart" TVs. If you plug an ethernet
cable into a Samdung, it uses that, so you can filter what it accesses.

-- 
Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 28th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3185
                  Rising above bedlam

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#18294

FromBruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com>
Date2019-06-23 23:44 +0100
Message-ID<ea408d29-aa5a-75a8-71cc-177d87c27bf2@scorecrow.com>
In reply to#18293
On 23/06/2019 22:59, Huge wrote:
> On 2019-06-23, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
>> On 20 Jun 2019 19:04:23 GMT, Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:
>>
> 
>>>>
>>>> 	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
>>>> being used ..... by her.
>>>
>>> I block all that with my PiHole.
>>
>> 	You built your own wireless router?
> 
> Oh, sorry, no. I was talking about "Smart" TVs. If you plug an ethernet
> cable into a Samdung, it uses that, so you can filter what it accesses.

@Shadow

A common approach is to put your ISP supplied router into bridge mode 
and then use a separate router+WiFi to enable secure WiFi/networking 
around your home.

An example combination is an ASUS RT-AC68U This allows creation of vLANs 
so you can separate your 'smart' devices from the other stuff on your 
home network.

Also allows things like network quotas (time of day, or data volumes, or 
speed) on the kids.

-- 
Bruce Horrocks
Surrey
England
(bruce at scorecrow dot com)

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#18296

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2019-06-24 08:50 +0000
Message-ID<gnbh5vFoareU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#18294
On 2019-06-23, Bruce Horrocks <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:
> On 23/06/2019 22:59, Huge wrote:
>> On 2019-06-23, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
>>> On 20 Jun 2019 19:04:23 GMT, Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>> 
>>>>>
>>>>> 	My wife's "smart"phone hammers the card, even when it's not
>>>>> being used ..... by her.
>>>>
>>>> I block all that with my PiHole.
>>>
>>> 	You built your own wireless router?
>> 
>> Oh, sorry, no. I was talking about "Smart" TVs. If you plug an ethernet
>> cable into a Samdung, it uses that, so you can filter what it accesses.
>
> @Shadow
>
> A common approach is to put your ISP supplied router into bridge mode 
> and then use a separate router+WiFi to enable secure WiFi/networking 
> around your home.
>
> An example combination is an ASUS RT-AC68U This allows creation of vLANs 
> so you can separate your 'smart' devices from the other stuff on your 
> home network.
>
> Also allows things like network quotas (time of day, or data volumes, or 
> speed) on the kids.

My ISP supplied router is plugged into a Smoothwall, and then a dumb
AP is plugged into that to provide internal service for the house. The
ISP Wifi is for visitors and stuff I don't GAS about.


-- 
Today is Setting Orange, the 29th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3185
                  Rising above bedlam

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]


#18295

Fromnot@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev)
Date2019-06-24 00:12 +0000
Message-ID<qep4hv$uh7$1@gioia.aioe.org>
In reply to#18292
Shadow <Sh@dow.br> wrote:
> On 20 Jun 2019 19:04:23 GMT, Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>I block all that with my PiHole.
> 
>        You built your own wireless router? Closed source or open
> firmware? What OS? Can you monitor the log? I'm interested.
>        I used to run a router (not wireless though) off a CD on an
> old 486. Read only, logs in RAM, any hack was gone in a reboot. But
> that was eons ago.
>        []'s

I'm running OpenWRT on a commercial model WiFi router. Currently
working on trying to set it up on a Raspberry Pi ZeroW for more
processing power, and OpenWRT is heading towards being too big to fit
on the Netgear DGN2200 that I've been using. Potential issues with
using the Pi have been already discussed in other newsgroups.

No DNS blocking though, I prefer to control all of that from the
client-end. All of my clients are controllable, not running on
"smart" gizmos.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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