TV hijacking

With the ever-increasing number of online scams I was rather taken aback to buy a new TV and find a swathe of permissions being demanded by Sony. They require the right to note all sorts of stuff, such as browser and other tech details. The TV updated itself twice in the first three days.

Could some of our learned contributors say whether the TV's ethernet connection through my Plusnet router could be used to obtain access to the rest of my network, comprising two PCs and two iPads on wifi? And if so, what can I do about it?

You could put your television on a separate VLAN if that's possible

I stopped buying Sony products years ago. You can buy other brands which offer the same (often better) functions and abilities for much less than what you would pay for Sony products.

If you use a firewall on both your router and computers and also have at least a basic security software on your devices then you should be fine. People only tend to get problems when visiting dodgy websites.

I recently attempted to buy a new Sony tv and was suprised by how much the interface now relies on their built in OS.

It ended up getting an audio fault on the HD channels so I sent it back and eventually got an LG tv, which is a lot better when it comes to the interface. It's not as integrated as the Sony tv seems to be.

I do not really follow the question.

If you use a standard router by an ISP, the TV is NATd behind a firewall, and hence is not directly internet facing at any point. It is only visible to the devices in your home e.g. your iPad can talk to the TV... Nobody from the outside world can scan the internet and see your TV, they would merely see any ports you have opened to the outside world.

I see no problem having a TV, 2 PCs and 2 iPads on the same network. In general, the largest attacks focus on PCs since these have the greatest user base, and generally then, the pivot into a home network environment is a user going on something suspicious e.g. free video streaming etc.

I fail to see how a Sony TV being on a network will compromise 2 ipads and 2 PCs unless you are doing something seriously suspect with the Sony TV, I can't even think of any examples.

Any device on a LAN has the potential to compromise other devices, hence why your LAN devices should run their own firewalls

Much more likely that a wrong click on a device you own or someone in household owns will lead to malware and a nasty payload.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Any device on a LAN has the potential to compromise other devices, hence why your LAN devices should run their own firewalls

This is what I was worried about, having read stories about CCTV cameras etc being open to attack. I should have added that each PC has Kaspersky IS updated daily, and we know not to click on links etc. Hopefully our new TV won't be the equivalent of leaving the back door unlocked
My electronic experience dates from 1953 when I bought one of the first germanium diodes for 12s 6d (62p) and hasn't advanced much since then, so many thanks everyone for your advice on this excellent forum.

The TV will quite likely make regular checks for updates. Essentially you have to trust that the firmware that it runs has not been compromised in someway.

If it is a "Smart TV" that can download apps such as iPlayer, 4OD, GoogleMaps, Facebook Twitter ... and whatever else, then there is always the possibility that one of the front-line apps could contain inappropriate code that may turn the TV into a monitoring device, or force access to the LAN ...

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

The TV will quite likely make regular checks for updates. Essentially you have to trust that the firmware that it runs has not been compromised in someway.

The Plusnet router itself makes regular checks for updates, we trust that the firmware has not been compromised in some way just fine. Likewise Windows checks for updates over Microsoft Update automatically, again we trust it. I see no issue with trusting the Sony updates, if anything the firmware upgrades are likely to patch security vulns if they exist.