System for remote parental control and management of rooted smart TVs

Abstract

The word hacking very often evokes pejorative connotations. In IT to hack is to break security measures, that were introduced by the developer or the manufacturer. However to hack can also mean to make the application or device do more, that it was originally intended, to extend its capabilities. In this article we will show that by hacking (or rooting) a Samsung Smart TV it is possible to build a system that will allow remote management and monitoring of such device. Parental control is often very limited in functionality, usually just a PIN lock. By achieving arbitrary code execution we were able to extend the functionality drastically. This system is independent of manufacturer and can work and be extended even on older TV sets, that do not receive updates.