--- title: "Samsung: Scan Your Smart TV for Viruses Every Week or Else" description: "Samsung tweeted a warning reminding TV owners to \"prevent malicious software attacks on your TV by scanning for viruses on your TV every few weeks.\"" date: "2019-06-17" modified: "2019-06-17" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/samsung-tv-scan-smart-virus" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Computing" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" - "Internet Of Things" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "internet of things" - "Samsung" - "the digest" - "tv" --- # Samsung: Scan Your Smart TV for Viruses Every Week or Else ![Samsung tweeted a warning reminding TV owners to "prevent malicious software attacks on your TV by scanning for viruses on your TV every few weeks."]() *\Image: Samsung/Victor Tangermann\* ## Virus Killed the TV Star Korean electronics giant Samsung just tweeted a warning reminding owners of its TVs to "prevent malicious software attacks on your TV by scanning for viruses on your TV every few weeks," as [*The Verge* reports](). Samsung's Support USA account has since deleted the tweet, but it raises some obvious questions: Should we have been scanning our TVs for malware all along and why? ## "Hi TV" Many Samsung smart TVs have built-in microphones to [enable voice commands](). In fact, models that users can control by saying "Hi TV" have their microphones enabled at all times — and if hackers were able to take over those functions, smart TVs could pose a real threat to our privacy. Samsung's TV software has a far-from-perfect security track record, too. According to [WikiLeaks documents](), security researchers from the CIA found some fairly serious vulnerabilities with it in 2017 while [testing software]() that can take over the microphones in smart TVs. ## Dumb TVs The tweet also underlines how little Samsung's customers and TV owners in general know about the information their smart TVs can access, according to Jon Porter, writer of *The Verge* story. "When so many people don’t even know how to turn off motion smoothing, what are the chances that they’re going to be mindful of security practices?" he asks. **READ MORE:** [Samsung’s security reminder makes the case for not owning a Samsung smart TV]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on computer viruses:** *[MIT Scientists Used a Biological Virus to Make Faster Computers]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()