Bitdefender says smart TVs lead home-device vulnerability observations
Original title: Smart TVs can harbor unpatched security flaws and track what you watch
Across about 10.4 million routers, televisions were 22.7% of observations and port scans 90.1% of attack events.
Bitdefender’s 2026 IoT Security Landscape Report, drawn from about 10.4 million protected home routers between January and September, says televisions accounted for 22.7% of vulnerability observations and smart plugs 22.4%. Automated port scans made up 90.1% of attack-category events, while password brute force was about 8.7%, mostly against Remote Desktop Protocol. The report also cites free TV apps that can turn sets into residential proxies and LG televisions collecting viewing and network data. Counts reflect detected or blocked activity, not confirmed intrusions.
Unconfirmed: The detections do not establish how many households suffered a successful intrusion.
- Devices may remain in use five to ten years while support lasts two to four.
- About 455 million of 466.6 million brute-force events targeted Remote Desktop Protocol.
- Spur findings describe free TV apps sharing a household connection as a proxy.
- Cited Gamers Nexus findings say LG TVs collect viewing data, voice and location.
Impact: Unpatched home devices may be scanned, proxied, or used to collect data
- Vendors
- LG
- Organizations
- BitdefenderSpurGamers NexusNETGEAR
From the original article
2 min read at helpnetsecurity.com
Smart TVs and connected plugs accounted for a large share of recorded security weaknesses in household devices, according to Bitdefender’s 2026 IoT Security Landscape Report. The analysis covered approximately 10. 4 million protected home routers between January and September.
By Anamarija Pogorelec · helpnetsecurity.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.