Smart TVs and Plugs May Keep Known Flaws After Updates End

Smart TVs and connected plugs accounted for a large share of home-device security weaknesses observed in a new Bitdefender report. For households, the concern is that these products may remain online for years after security updates stop, leaving known flaws unresolved.

What happened

According to Help Net Security, Bitdefender analyzed about 10.4 million protected home routers between January and September. TVs represented 22.7% of its vulnerability observations, while smart plugs linked to a known software flaw accounted for 22.4%.

The report said household electronics may remain in service for five to 10 years even though security support can end after two to four years. The affected brands and models, along with their current patch status, were not disclosed in the source.

Automated port scans made up 90.1% of the attack-category events Bitdefender detected. These scans searched for exposed services such as remote access and administration tools. However, a scan alone does not mean an attacker entered a home network, and the report did not establish how many households suffered successful intrusions.

Privacy is another concern. The report cited research describing software inside some free smart-TV apps that can use a household’s internet connection as a residential proxy after the viewer accepts the app’s terms. Outside traffic then appears to websites as if it came from the household’s public internet address. TVs may also collect viewing information and other data, while Automatic Content Recognition can identify displayed content for personalized advertising.

Who is affected

Anyone with an internet-connected television or smart plug should check its support status, especially if the device is several years old. Risk may be higher when a product no longer receives updates, exposes remote-access services or runs free apps whose terms permit connection sharing.

The source did not identify specific vulnerable models or say that every smart TV or plug is affected. It also did not provide a list of manufacturers still supplying fixes.

What to do now

1. Open each TV or plug’s settings or companion app and look for Software Update, Firmware Update or System Update. Install any available update, then enable automatic updates if that option is offered.

2. Visit the manufacturer’s support page and search for the exact model number. Check whether it still receives security updates. If the company does not disclose support dates, ask its support team directly.

3. Review installed TV apps and remove ones you no longer use. Be especially cautious with free apps whose privacy terms mention proxy services, bandwidth sharing or routing other customers’ traffic through your connection.

4. Open the TV’s privacy or advertising settings and look for Automatic Content Recognition, viewing-data collection or personalized-ad options. Turn off collection you do not want.

5. Put TVs, plugs and other connected devices on a guest or isolated Wi-Fi network when your router supports it. CyberSec24’s smart-device guest Wi-Fi guide explains why separating these products can limit their access to computers and phones.

6. Check whether your router still receives firmware fixes and disable unnecessary remote-management services. Use CyberSec24’s router update checklist to review its support status.