Latest ransomware targets: TV sets

Coming soon to a TV near you: ransomware! Darren Cauthon, a software programmer from Olath (KS), recently described on Twitter how malware can affect consumer electronic devices like TV sets. His wife, he writes, downloaded an app advertising free movies to the family’s smart TV set. Afterwards, the device “froze” and a message popped up demanding $500 to “unlock” it. „Any device that is connected to the Internet can get hacked. That goes for TVs, smartphones, tablets and even vehicles,” said Cauthon. In his case the TV made by Samsung uses the Android operating system, which effectively turns it into a computer. In September, it was revealed that hackers had managed to hijack more than 1.5 million video cameras and other consumer electronics devices and turning them into a “botnet” through which they were able to launch devastating DDoS attacks against the security website Krebsonsecurity.com and the French hosting firm OVH, among others.