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Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#201

Post by rrr_oh_man »

Terr_ wrote: post #47
havaloc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an elderly client who sends me links of stuff to buy all the time. One day it's one of these streaming sticks, the next day it's half-price stamps, and I tell her every time, please don't buy this stuff. And yet she does anyway, as if I was almost being mean and saying no just to say no. So yes, I do want to blame the purchasers of these things, sometimes. To prove her point that her stamps were legitimate, sh…

Perhaps they grew up in a time/environment where "if it was that bad they wouldn't be allowed to advertise it", and they're still using that old calibration?

> time/environment where "if it was that bad they wouldn't be allowed to advertise it"

like cigarettes?

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#202

Post by AngryData »

boondongle wrote: post #183
SoftTalker wrote: post #145

> Despite repeated warnings from the FBI and security industry leaders about the security and privacy risks of using these streaming devices, major e-commerce providers like Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg and others continue to sell hundreds of different models and brands I scanned the comments and I didn't see anyone suggesting that these companies should share any responsibility for selling these harmful products. Why is…

Just being realistic here; many of these are of Chinese make so how exactly would you stop it other than blocking them from being sold. They certainly don't advertise to the big box retailer that buys them "and it uses the customer's internet connection for fraud." Hell, there's a section of comments that would probably going "hey, RELAX guy" because it's not US companies doing this. For any American companies that d…

But it is a retailer's responsibility to know what they are selling. If it was added after they started selling it and hidden in secret, sure a retailer might have an excuse. But it isn't really hidden, most often its put in their marketing materials as a benefit and have been knowingly doing it for many years now.

US retailers can be told they can't sell it here. If you buy it outside of that, well that is buyer beware, but 99% of people aren't buying things from Alibaba or ordering from some random foreign store, they are buying them off US Amazon, Walmart, big box retailers, etc. You don't have to ban things consumer level to deal with 99% of it, you just gotta tell big corporations no and stop dismissing any ideas that put responsibility or liability on big business.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#203

Post by awakeasleep »

malfist wrote: post #194
boondongle wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just being realistic here; many of these are of Chinese make so how exactly would you stop it other than blocking them from being sold. They certainly don't advertise to the big box retailer that buys them "and it uses the customer's internet connection for fraud." Hell, there's a section of comments that would probably going "hey, RELAX guy" because it's not US companies doing this. For any American companies that d…

If I open my own line of home improvement stores and do no oversight on what I sell and wind up selling really dangerous lawnmowers, I'm partly responsible. Or if I open up a gas station and allow any company without oversight to sell "supplements" through my shelves and cops arrest me for selling heroin, I don't get a free pass. Why should amazon or Walmart get a free pass just because they sell more items?

One problem I see with your analogy is that the dangerous lawnmower can cause an easily quantifiable harm.

You have to be able to show damages you incurred and assign a dollar value to them to sue people.

That doesn’t work at all for a something that sells your bandwidth to a proxy service. People wouldn’t even be aware that it was happening they weren’t told.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#204

Post by wsintra2022 »

malfist wrote: post #194
boondongle wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just being realistic here; many of these are of Chinese make so how exactly would you stop it other than blocking them from being sold. They certainly don't advertise to the big box retailer that buys them "and it uses the customer's internet connection for fraud." Hell, there's a section of comments that would probably going "hey, RELAX guy" because it's not US companies doing this. For any American companies that d…

If I open my own line of home improvement stores and do no oversight on what I sell and wind up selling really dangerous lawnmowers, I'm partly responsible. Or if I open up a gas station and allow any company without oversight to sell "supplements" through my shelves and cops arrest me for selling heroin, I don't get a free pass. Why should amazon or Walmart get a free pass just because they sell more items?

Except the devices are not dangerous. Its the software installed on the device. Consumers have a choice. Pay for the trusted Apple TV or Amazon firestick, or go the wild west and see what's on offer.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#205

Post by scottydelta »

After getting tired of ads on my PAID smart TV, 6 months ago I started building a casting device using raspberry pi for myself. A couple of months later one of my friends who is an AV technician ended up using it at the largest convention venue in Barcelona to play content on loop, here's a video of that: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FF3I9EOs4AA.

Fast forward to last month, now I have started selling these in Barcelona, Spain where I am based out of and branched it into three use cases: digital signage, casting, and a portable computer for presentations at events. Here is the link with features: https://soljacast.com

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#206

Post by autoexec »

giantg2 wrote: post #69
ghostly_s wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are not "streaming boxes" in the sense you are talking about. Their appeal is that they come preloaded with chinese pirate streaming apps. Traditional streaming boxes - Apple TV, Fire stick, Roku - are not affected by this, though if you want privacy-focused Apple TV is the only remaining contender, and with Apple's continued descent into advertising vendor I'd guess that one is not long for this world, either.

My understanding is that Roku bypasses DNS blocking with hardcoded tables so it can report back on various data they track on you.

Roku collects an insane amount of data on users. Basically everything that they can get their hands on

> Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video “snapshots” in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard seltzer, Roku’s ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on screen is automatically recognized, as the technology’s name indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to link the account watching with the content they’re watching. https://advertising.roku.com/learn/resources/acr-the-future-...

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#207

Post by ur-whale »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #105

That reminds me, I need to configure VLANs in my router so that all my trusted computers are isolated from all the other garbage that makes it into the network.

Mmmh, I've always wondered ... as much as VLAN's are a very useful tools to - for example - route two separate LAN's traffic through a shared physical link ... are they any good when it come to security?

I mean, I don't believe VLAN's were designed with security as a goal, and I wonder how "strong" the virtual wall between two VLAN's actually is?

Can't a device on VLAN1 not peek at VLAN2 traffic if it sits on physical connection where packets from both VLANs happen to travel?

Just wondering.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#209

Post by emacdona »

scottydelta wrote: post #205

After getting tired of ads on my PAID smart TV, 6 months ago I started building a casting device using raspberry pi for myself. A couple of months later one of my friends who is an AV technician ended up using it at the largest convention venue in Barcelona to play content on loop, here's a video of that: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FF3I9EOs4AA . Fast forward to last month, now I have started selling these in Barc…

Clicked on the link, ready to buy one. “Contact sales”. Ew. No thanks.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#210

Post by SoftTalker »

awakeasleep wrote: post #203
malfist wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I open my own line of home improvement stores and do no oversight on what I sell and wind up selling really dangerous lawnmowers, I'm partly responsible. Or if I open up a gas station and allow any company without oversight to sell "supplements" through my shelves and cops arrest me for selling heroin, I don't get a free pass. Why should amazon or Walmart get a free pass just because they sell more items?

One problem I see with your analogy is that the dangerous lawnmower can cause an easily quantifiable harm. You have to be able to show damages you incurred and assign a dollar value to them to sue people. That doesn’t work at all for a something that sells your bandwidth to a proxy service. People wouldn’t even be aware that it was happening they weren’t told.

What about when the police show up because some highly illegal content was traced to your IP address? Will they believe that you were the unwitting victim of a rogue proxy server running on your streaming stick? Would you have even been aware of that possibility?
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