Neighbour attempted to log into TV – Network compromised?

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Gordy7

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#306251 8-Jul-2023 09:32

For the second time in a few months I saw a second pop up on my TV wanting a connection.

This time I got to my TV remote in time to block or reject the connection.

I don’t know if it was Bluetooth or WiFi.

I can’t get my head around whether it was just a random BT connection or a WiFi attack.

I don’t know if a BT connection could access my TV settings and gain access to my WiFi network.

Of course it is school holiday time and maybe the clever kids next door are playing with network attack tools.

I have a Spark SM3 on the Skinny newtwork. I checked the Connected Devices list and couldn’t spot any unidentified connection.

TV is an LG 65UN8160PVA bought in June 2020 with the latest firmware and is on 5GHz WiFi.

WiFi has a password mix of upper case, lower case, numbers and special characters.

According to https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/ it would take 30k years to crack… or just luck 😊

While 5GHz WiFi is accessible all around my house I can’t turn off 2.4GHz WiFi as I have devices that only operate on 2.4GHz WiFi.

Should I worry? Any ideas?

TIA

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Dynamic

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#3101177 8-Jul-2023 09:37

My first thought is that they are simply casting to the TV, which has Miracast (which is basically the same as Chromecast if I understand correctly). You may be able to set a password on your TV that the mobile device user would have to enter to successfully cast.

I did have the neighbours accidentally cast some 'exotic material' to my Chromecast once for less than a minute. I changed it's name to make it more obvious who it belonged to.

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mentalinc

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#3101178 8-Jul-2023 09:38

Are they trying to chromecast to it?

Have you checked if you're allowing guest chromecast access?

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Gordy7

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#3101180 8-Jul-2023 09:38

Maybe I should think about dividing my entertainment and secure networks on two different network subnets.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Bung

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#3101192 8-Jul-2023 10:11

Can your tv have wifi direct enabled as well as the usual network connection? The connection may not be through your home network.

kiwiharry

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#3101197 8-Jul-2023 10:29

I've had this also occur on our TV. Probably happens about once every 4-6 months.

I know I've accidentally selected a neigbours tv when trying to cast from my phone to TV. In my instance the list of devices updated just before I selected my tv so another device jumped into the position in the list where my TV was. I clicked it just as the list updated. So entirely accidental.

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Wombat1

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#3101199 8-Jul-2023 10:33

Dynamic:

I did have the neighbours accidentally cast some 'exotic material' to my Chromecast once for less than a minute. I changed it's name to make it more obvious who it belonged to.

Did not know that was even possible? I believe both devices needed to be sharing the same network to cast. Are yuou sure you neighbour is not using your wifi too?

Dynamic

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#3101204 8-Jul-2023 11:00

Wombat1:

Dynamic:

I did have the neighbours accidentally cast some 'exotic material' to my Chromecast once for less than a minute. I changed it's name to make it more obvious who it belonged to.

Did not know that was even possible? I believe both devices needed to be sharing the same network to cast. Are yuou sure you neighbour is not using your wifi too?

Casting directly is definitely a thing.

In this case, my neighbour is sharing my WiFi as well. That's an entirely different subject about a property not being officially subdivided.

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nzkc

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#3101207 8-Jul-2023 11:06

Surely the obvious thing here, if you really think your wifi might be compromised, is to change your wifi password. Yes thats a bit of a PITA as you have to reset all your clients.

Though I suspect this is simply a bit of an accident where your TV is advertising itself for direct casting (chromecast, miracast, apple airplay etc).

Gordy7

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#3101209 8-Jul-2023 11:13

Dynamic:

My first thought is that they are simply casting to the TV, which has Miracast (which is basically the same as Chromecast if I understand correctly). You may be able to set a password on your TV that the mobile device user would have to enter to successfully cast.

I did have the neighbours accidentally cast some 'exotic material' to my Chromecast once for less than a minute. I changed it's name to make it more obvious who it belonged to.

Thanks for the info.

I am making some progress. Can't find any settings on my TV for casting settings.

Been searching the web: Cast, Chromecast, Mirrorcast, LG Smartshare and finally LG Smart Share.

At one stage I saw a Guest option on my TV but couldn't figure out how to change the settings. Lost again!

Now I have found Miracast on my phone and can connect to my TV.

So it looks like my neighbour was doing a cast.... so my not accepting the connection was the right thing to do.

Still need to find the Guest setting.

I will have another go later today.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Gordy7

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#3101330 8-Jul-2023 15:34

If I turn off the TV WiFi (only) then I can't Miracast my phone to the TV.

If I turn off my WiFi Router (only) then I can Miracast to my TV.

So it would appear that there may be little risk that my Router WiFi and network is compromised and that my TV supports WiFi Direct.

Thanks everyone for the guidance and suggestions. Happier now 😀

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

cddt

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#3104958 17-Jul-2023 10:23

As mentioned, could be accidental.

I recently pulled out a bluetooth speaker we received for free from somewhere. Xiaomi brand but no English instructions.

Unfortunately when I opened blueman on my PC to try and connect I was presented with a list of three or four different devices, all named with Chinese characters. My neighbours are Chinese and so I assumed all bar one belonged to them.

Rather than connect to their speaker/TV/headphones in the early hours of the morning I had the idea of checking the RSSI values - and quickly identified which speaker was the one sitting next to me.