Surely, if we have one Smart TV At home, we are logged in with our account. This way we can access the application store to download apps, access our services, and turn our television into a fully interactive device. This is something we usually do practically automatically, without thinking. But what we don’t know is that, in doing so, we are taking great risks.
A Smart TV with system Google/Android TV It behaves, broadly speaking, the same as a smartphone with this operating system. This means that, when we log in with our Google account, for example, all our information is synchronized with the TV. While the cell phone is something private, and only used by us, all other people in the home have access to television. They can even access other people (as guests) who come to our house. And, generally, without having to enter any password or code.
That is, if we log in with our main Google account, all the information from that account will be available on the television. And this can lead to a series of security issues like the one we show you today.
Unlimited access to Gmail emails
Although it is not common, Android TV has experienced a VERY serious security breach which allowed anyone to access the Gmail email of the account that was logged in on the Smart TV without needing to know the password.
It is true that you have to go around a lot (we will show how in a video later), but it is something that everyone will know how to do. Simply install the Google Chrome APK to be able to access Gmail, or any other service, from the browser taking advantage of the Android TV global session cookie.
It’s not very common for someone to read their email from the television. For this reason, the security breach appeared on the network for the first time in January of this year, although Google did not give it importance. It had to be the United States Senate that asked Google for a thorough review of security practices to correct this behavior.
If we have one TV with Android TV or Google TVor a chromecast, We must make sure that we are using one of the latest versions of the operating system. Otherwise, we will be in danger for the simple fact of having logged in to the TV with our main email account.
Never use your main account on TV
Creating a Google account is very quick. In seconds we can have a new, fully functional account that we can start using. But despite that, most of us use our main account on all devices, mainly for convenience. And this is a serious mistake.
In the previous video, for example, they show us the security risks of using our Gmail email account on a TV with Android TV. Something that we all do out of inertia can become a gateway to our entire digital life. In addition to being able to access the email, we must keep in mind that we can also access all our personal information, such as passwords, bank details, and other data that we have saved in our Gmail.
Therefore, if you use Android TV, and you have your main account linked, log out immediately, create a new Gmail account, and use it so that no one can access your data.
