Samsung ‘Urgently Looking Into’ WikiLeaks Report of CIA-Hacked Smart TVs

“Protecting consumers’ privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung,” the company emailed us Wednesday on WikiLeaks’ Tuesday disclosure that the CIA worked secretly with U.K. authorities in 2014 to hack Samsung smart TVs and turn them into covert microphones (see 1703070047). “We are aware of the report in question and are urgently looking into the matter,” Samsung said. Documents that WikiLeaks released, the authenticity of which couldn’t be confirmed, described “Weeping Angel” malware that the CIA planted on Samsung TVs from afar to “suppress” the TV’s LED backlight and “improve the look” of a so-called “Fake-Off mode” that gives the owner the false impression the set is turned off when in fact it's listening in on private conversations.