The COMPUTER VIRUSES coming soon to a TV near you: Why TV could be next target for cyber hackers

TV could be next target for computer viruses launched by cyber hackers

Whether it disrupts the Queen’s Christmas Day
speech, a World Cup final penalty shoot-out or
the results of The X Factor, the day when
computer viruses infect television is around the
corner, one of the world’s top technology security
experts has warned.


Eugene Kaspersky, the co-founder and chief
executive of Russia’s Kaspersky Lab, the world’s
fourth largest computer antivirus group, issued
the alert in an interview with The Telegraph.


While the company’s global research and
development headquarters in Moscow receives
315,000 suspicious activity reports every day – a
figure that has doubled over the past year –
there have yet to be reports of a virus
penetrating the humble television.


However, Mr Kaspersky said that will inevitably
change, as Internet connections make television
sets vulnerable to the kind of damage malicious
software has already caused desktop and laptop
computers and is starting to wreak on mobile
phones.


“The threats will diversify to mobile phones and
to the home environment, such as through
televisions, which are now connected to the
Internet,” he said.

Asked whether he knows of a successful virus for
televisions, he answered: “Not yet, but it will
happen. “What’s the difference been a TV and a
computer? A bigger screen and a remote control.
It has Android inside and memory chips and
Internet connections. That’s all.
“It’s just a question of time. We already have a
product for mobile and we have a prototype for
TV so we are ready to address this issue when
new malware for television is released by
criminals.” source: the telegraph