Security quotes of the week

Posted Mar 10, 2017 18:28 UTC (Fri) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: Security quotes of the week by excors
Parent article: Security quotes of the week

The leaked CIA wiki mentions USB installation of hacked firmware, not a remote exploit. Lack of internet won't stop it getting exploited, and once it's exploited it can silently connect to the wifi access point in the CIA van outside your house.

Maybe that will happen if you're a target of a powerful nation state's intelligence service, but that's not the threat most of us should really be worrying about. The typical person is at far more risk of having their TV hacked by script kiddies who want to add it to their botnet, or to spy on random people for the thrill of it. You'll probably be able to dodge that threat by not connecting your TV directly.

For the people who are targets of powerful security agencies, shutting down any particular avenue of attack is really just playing whack-a-mole. If the CIA is really targeting you, they aren't going to let your lack of a smart TV stop them; they'll just use one of their numerous other tools to do the job. The only way to avoid that kind of really dedicated spying attempt is by traditional tradecraft.