Using certain TV boxes can be extremely dangerous for your personal and banking data. 60 million consumers indicate how to protect themselves against possible risks.
The TV box market has been booming for several years. Connected boxes have been added to the boxes of internet operators. These small boxes that are easily found in stores and on sales sites like Amazon, Fnac or even for resale via LeBonCoin are popular. For good reason: they make it possible to equip televisions that are too technically dated in order to provide them with several applications such as Netflix, myCanal, Spotify, Twitch or even Prime Video. Some boxes even allow you to have a few games on your television with recognized titles like Final Fantasy or Asphalt.
Today there are a multitude of brands specialized (or not) in Android TV boxes. Manufacturers like Xiaomi or even Nvidia, which we know more for their smartphones or graphics cards, are particularly present in this market with boxes designed to equip your televisions.
However, these Android TV boxes would also be subject to many concerns. The 60 million consumers site notably warns users against certain of these boxes purchased online or non-specialized stores. A recent study by the company Human Security, specializing in cyber security, detected nearly 200 Android TV boxes infested with a virus integrated into their architecture and simply impossible to remove. The malicious file in question will then silently infect your installation and connected objects in order to generate advertising revenue or steal your personal data.
Among the TV boxes concerned, we find in particular the following references: T95, T95Z, T95MAX, X88, Q9, X12PLUS and MXQ Pro 5G. Many other brands are also affected, but they all have one thing in common: these are boxes that are not approved by Google partners and are often very cheap. To find out the partner brands of Android (and therefore Google), do not hesitate to check on the company’s official website at the bottom of the page.
If you have a contaminated Android box, unfortunately there is no other alternative than to get rid of it. Since the incriminated virus is directly integrated into the boxes in question, you will not be able to remove it even by resetting the device. This is why we strongly recommend that you turn to the boxes offered by Google partners such as SONY, TCL or Philips.