What to do with a TV that no longer gets updates
· 2 min read
Check when your television's firmware was built:
adb shell getprop ro.build.date
If that date reads 2019, you have gone seven years without a single security patch on a device that is permanently connected to your home network.
Why it matters, and why not to panic
Why it matters: an unpatched Android accumulates known vulnerabilities. The television is always on in the background, on the same network as your computer and your phone.
Why not to panic: a television is not a particularly attractive target, and real attacks on domestic televisions are rare. The risk is low, not zero.
The reasonable answer is not to throw the television away. It is to reduce the surface.
Measures, most to least effective
1. Isolate it on the network. If your router supports VLANs or a guest network, put the television there. It keeps internet access and stops seeing your computer, your NAS and everything you care about.
By a distance the most effective measure on this list, and many domestic routers allow it with two clicks.
2. Remove what you do not use. Every application is attack surface. Less software installed is less that can fail.
3. Filter at the DNS. Blocking telemetry domains also reduces outbound traffic to services you do not control.
4. Disable UPnP on the router. Stops any device on your network opening ports outward on its own.
5. Unplug it when not in use. Extreme, and it is an option.
The option that fixes it at the root
Do not connect the television at all. All the clever parts come from an external device over HDMI: a mini PC, a modern player, an old computer. The television is a screen, which is what it does well and what does not expire.
A 2016 panel still gives an excellent picture. It is the software that aged, and software can be moved outside. We cover it in using your TV as a monitor.