91,000 LG Smart TVs Vulnerable to Hacking, Hackers Able to Steal User Data and Install Malware

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – A number of LG Smart TVs were found to have critical vulnerabilities, where hackers could take full control of the TV, steal victim data and install malware.

This incident was discovered by cybersecurity researchers from Bitdefender. In its report, Thursday (11/4/2024), LG Smart TVs with webOS versions 4 to 7 had this critical vulnerability.

The Bitdefender team identified the vulnerability as part of their research into the security of popular Internet of Things (IoT) devices on the market.

They said hackers or cybercriminals could bypass the authentication mechanism and create new user accounts with higher privileges.

“This allows cybercriminals to take full control of the TV, including entering malicious code, stealing data, and moving to other devices via the home internet network,” he explained.

After discovering the major vulnerability, Bitdefender shared the information with LG in November 2023. LG confirmed that the company had released a patch in March 2024.

Cybersecurity researchers wait until security patches are rolled out globally, and publicly disclose the vulnerabilities to raise awareness among users to update their software.

Based on a search engine for uncovering misconfigured and exposed IoT devices, the countries most affected by this vulnerability in LG Smart TVs are South Korea.

Shodan noted that around 50,315 devices in South Korea were exposed. Followed by Hong Kong and the United States in second and third place.

Even though Indonesia is not among the top 10 countries exposed to this vulnerability, there is no harm in checking whether your LG Smart TV has received an OS update containing this security patch.