How to Password Protect Your Smart TV

Earlier in 2017, Vizio, one of the largest manufacturers of internet-connected ‘smart’ TVs, agreed to pay a $2.2 million fine to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), delete any data collected before March 1, 2016, and obtain affirmative consent from users for its data collection and sharing practices.

As it turns out, the 11 million smart TVs that Vizio had sold were busy tracking their owners – what they watched and when they watched it, as well as IP addresses – and then sent that data back to the company’s servers. This data was then sold to advertisers.

This feature, dubbed as “Smart Interactivity”, is turned on by default with every smart TV that Vizio sold. Tracking user habits isn’t limited to Vizio’s smart TV sets, though: Samsung, LG, and Sony devices also include such a ‘feature’ but, apparently, they don’t provide that information to advertisers and so the latter can’t reach users directly on their smart TVs.

If you have been paying attention to internet security headlines lately, you might have noticed that smart devices can be used as cyber weapons to shut down (part of) the internet. Also, various surveys and white-hat hackers have shown that users of smart devices tend to be slacking when it comes to security on these devices, meaning that they don’t ensure they are as securely protected as much as they might on computers. This leaves a door to their private life wide open to hackers, such as allowing them to use their security camera or even the smart TV to spy on you.

Instead of using the Zuckerberg method – taping over the built-in camera – users should take a look at the security settings of those smart devices and implement appropriate measures to protect their privacy. Just by skipping the basic step of leaving the default passwords and PINs unchanged, users leave themselves vulnerable to hackers, who can then easily access these internet-connected devices remotely and access different parts of the hardware like the camera or microphone.

How to protect yourself against hackers

We know that you have purchased the smart TV to connect it to the internet and watch your favorite shows from Netflix on the big screen. Still, if you are eager to protect your privacy and yet don’t want the CIA or hackers to scour through your private life, then you will definitely want to disconnect it from the internet. Or, if you’d rather not give up that convenience, then you should consider using a VPN router.

Using a password manager and VPN router

But not hiding your real IP address as you access internet-based services such as Netflix leaves you vulnerable to attacks. To patch that security hole while keeping all your smart devices connected to the internet, you need a VPN router. The device will hide your IP address, and ensure all data traffic is encrypted between your device and the VPN server.