LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps

LG Electronics is banning residential proxy SDKs from its smart TV app store after research revealed nearly half of webOS apps were silently selling users' IP addresses.

Your smart TV's clock app might have been moonlighting as a proxy server. LG Electronics announced this week it will suspend any webOS apps that embed residential proxy software development kits (SDKs), following research from security firm Spur.us that found more than 42 percent of apps on LG's platform contained such code.

Spur scanned 6,038 apps across LG's webOS and Samsung's Tizen platforms, discovering 2,058 were selling IP addresses to proxy networks. The offending apps — clocks, fish tanks, solitaire games — presented as innocuous utilities while monetizing the TV's always-on internet connection in the background. Samsung's Tizen platform fared slightly better, with just over a quarter of apps carrying the same proxy components.

LG Senior Vice President John Taylor confirmed the crackdown: "A residential proxy network is not an intended use for LG smart TVs, and LG Electronics is working with developers to remove the residential proxy option from their apps on the webOS platform. If this option is not removed, these apps will be suspended."

The company said it will strengthen its app review process for developer-submitted apps, including those that incorporate residential proxy SDKs. For consumers, the takeaway is stark: even the most banal apps on internet-connected devices can carry hidden monetization schemes — and your TV, unlike your phone, rarely gets scrutinized.

Sources: Krebs on Security, Spur.us