Samsung Bans Smart TV Apps That Share Internet Connections Following Security Research
Samsung has announced a ban on smart TV applications that share users’ internet connections with external parties following findings published by cybersecurity company Mnemonic. The decision comes after security researchers discovered that several popular applications contained code converting smart TVs into residential proxies for outside traffic.
What Happened
Norwegian cybersecurity firm Mnemonic published security research detailing how multiple Samsung smart TV applications contained software that routed external web traffic through home and office internet connections. These connections are known as residential proxies or resproxies. Harrison Sand, an offensive security consultant at Mnemonic, discovered that even simple applications, such as a Pac-Man game featured in Samsung’s Editor’s Choice section, included resproxy code from Israel-based company Bright Data. In response to inquiries from TechCrunch, Samsung stated it has restricted new app registrations with proxy features and is working to identify and remove all existing store applications containing residential proxy software development kits.
Key Highlights
- Samsung is removing smart TV applications that incorporate residential proxy functionality and banning new app submissions with proxy software development kits.
- Security research by Mnemonic revealed that barebone shell applications could load external content and act as residential proxies without being caught during initial app reviews.
- Once activated through a user consent screen, the proxy software can run in the background, making the television an exit node even after the application is closed.
- Researchers observed traffic used for large-scale scraping of LinkedIn profiles and collecting artificial intelligence training data.
- Samsung’s action follows a similar ban instituted by competitor LG last month after research showed about 42% of apps on LG’s app store enlisted TVs into proxy networks.
Why This Matters
Residential proxies allow outside web traffic to appear as though it originates from an ordinary household, making it difficult for cybersecurity systems to detect malicious behavior or data scraping. While resproxies are not inherently illegal and are used for tasks like AI data collection and bypassing censorship, security experts warn that server-side changes could potentially turn connected devices into unauthorized botnets, compromising privacy and network performance.
What to Watch Next
Samsung is actively implementing platform-wide developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs while reviewing its app store to locate and strip away existing applications that contain proxy components.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a residential proxy app?
A residential proxy app contains code that routes external internet traffic through a consumer’s home or office connection, allowing third parties to use the device as an exit node for web activities.
How did these applications bypass Samsung’s review process?
According to Mnemonic’s research, many affected apps were basic shells containing minimal code designed to load content from external servers. Reviews evaluated only the initial code, not the external server content loaded later.
Source: Based on reporting by TechCrunch and research published by Mnemonic.