LG Smart TV Bricked By Ransomware.

[DroidModderX]

This is not the holiday surprise this LG Smart TV was hoping for. I for one have been a huge proponent over the years of having dumb screens. Just give me a huge beautiful display and I will connect the perfect peripheral to it. I have one of those fancy Samsung Curved 4K displays in my living room. It has just about all the apps that I need built in, but I still prefer to use my Nvidia Shield TV. It has more than the TV's software, runs faster, and is overall less buggy. Many consumers wan't Netflix and hulu built in to their TV so they don't need the peripherals. The only issue is there are all kinds of things that can go wrong with software. Ransomware and Malware are just one of the issue you might find.

Over the holiday weekend an LG TV owner posted some images of his bricked TV. His TV is an older model that was running Google's old Google TV software. Apparently he installed a third party app in hopes of streaming some free content. That plan seems to have backfired. Instead of streaming lots of freebies his screen is stuck on a fake FBI warning page demanding $500 to unbrick the TV. Since this is a TV and not a smartphone or tablet there is actually no way to navigate the app. LG also has not released any recovery software for the TV so there is no chance of restoring the TV to factory settings. The man's only option would be a $345 house visit from LG to fix an already aging TV. It would be much more economical to just buy a new TV at this point. This should serve as a lesson to all of us. Don't install shady third party apps especially on your TV.

via Twitter

 

[Mustang02]

Don't understand why people want "smart" TVs. I don't want my TV being connected to the internet.

 

[Beardface]

Yeah I don't get the smart TV thing, either. Its usually a $100-$200 markup on price as it is, and you get the exact same functionality by installing a $35 Chromecast to one of the HDMI ports. And should something go wrong, its literally a $35 fix to just buy a new one.

Plus, there's the added bonus that your TV won't be included in a botnet DDoS attack down the line. So that's good.

 

[kixfan]

I think the more we automate our homes through wifi the more we will see of this. I'm quite happy not having the "home of the future". My home can stay off line except for the devices I need to connect. (PCs, phones, Roku, etc.)

 

[Mustang02]

My home will never have automation. I can turn a door handle or click a button to turn the thermostat up.

 

[johnomaz]

Apparently he installed a third party app in hopes of streaming some free content.

He did it to himself.

 

[Rognish]

Apparently he installed a third party app in hopes of streaming some free content.

He did it to himself.

End of news story, IMHO.

 

[Sajo]

"Don't install shady third party apps especially on your TV. "

Sentence of the year, right there; with phone, tablet, laptop, etc. also included.

 

[akhenax]

If he could install the third party app, why can't he uninstall the third party ransomware?

I'll buy that for a dollar!

P.S.
I just installed a brand new Samsung 50" smart tv for my uncle, and I can see the allure of having everything right at your fingertips. The menu for the tv is embedded with the cable signal so there is no need for a separate cable box. Getting the Netflix is easy. I can browse Netflix while watching TV. It's pretty cool. I personally own a dumb tv, but can definitely see the coolness factor of newer TV's that have it all built in.

 

[pc747]

Agree

I'll definitely buy that for cheap and take a crack at fixing it.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[xeene]

"So @lgus has given me instructions on how to do the factory reset on the tv. I'll be trying it out after work... fingers crossed!"

 

[akhenax]

"So @lgus has given me instructions on how to do the factory reset on the tv. I'll be trying it out after work... fingers crossed!"

@xeene, this is your TV? You famous!

 

[xeene]

Nah, I'm just quoting his tweet. By the way, problem has been fixed