MIAMI VALLEY — Did you know hackers can steal your personal information through your TV?
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As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, most televisions today are smart TVs.
It means they may be gathering and storing information about you.
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If you’ve been in the market for a new TV, you will want to buy now before prices go higher.
News Center 7′s James Brown says there are steps people can take to keep their personal information out of the scammers’ hands.
“I use Netflix. I use HBO Max, and I use all kinds of different applications,” said Pam.
These are not your grandfather’s television sets. These so-called “Smart TVs” have built-in Internet. It allows users to access apps, much like they would with their cell phones.
Brown says people may not realize that many Smart TVs are designed to collect information for their manufacturer. It includes their location and what apps they open.
Some TVs have microphones on their remotes that can also capture your voice.
“I haven’t really thought about it spying on me. But it doesn’t surprise me that it can,” said Tom. “It would be like having Alexa in your house. Which I don’t for that reason.”
Zen Piotrowski owns C-M-I-T Solutions, a cybersecurity company. He says before you throw that old set out, your personal history may still be inside.
“A lot of people wouldn’t think about that just by getting rid of their TV, that there’s just a few pieces of information that somebody could leverage,” he said.
Piotrowski states that a cybercriminal can find your home address inside your television and your email address. They could also search social media for a way to contact you.
“They text you and trick you into revealing some additional information,” he added.
Instead, Piotrowski says consumers should reset their outgoing TV sets to the original settings. This includes wiping out any history the television has stored.
To do that, you need to start at the main menu.
“You look for system, then you look at system settings and there’s a place there to reset the TV to factory settings,” said Piotrowski.
It will delete wi-fi, your Google account and login information, and any apps you’ve installed. It helps keep any potential prying eyes from stealing your private information.
“It’s very easy to prevent,” said Piotrowski.
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