Samsung said the company is banning applications that could potentially expose users' internet connections and will remove applications with such functions on its smart televisions (TVs) following the discovery of vulnerabilities related to applications on its smart televisions.
According to TechCrunch , new security research published shows that some Samsung smart TV apps contain code that shares the owner's internet connection with strangers, presenting a potential hijacking threat on millions of Samsung smart TVs.
Security research conducted by Norwegian cybersecurity firm Mnemonic shows that some apps on Samsung's TV platform have functionality that can redirect strangers' web traffic through a home internet connection so that the requests appear to originate from the TV user.
According to Mnemonic, one of the apps found to have this capability is a simple Pac-Man game that Samsung previously featured in the Editors' Choice section of its app store.
The cybersecurity firm explained that installing the app could turn a smart TV into a residential proxy exit node , which could be used to forward other people's internet traffic so that the activity appears to originate from the user's internet connection.
