By Keri Algar
SYDNEY, NSW: Internet security experts agree that at the moment there is little incentive for hackers to spam, spoof or steal content via IPTV connections.
After speaking with AVG security authority Lloyd Borrett yesterday, Current.com.au asked David Peterson of Trend Micro about the risk of IPTV file invasion and corruption.
Peterson agrees that while a threat certainly exists, monetary motivations are for the meantime too little to entice potential hackers.
“IPTV can be subjected to spamming, spoofing and content theft. Although realistically these are risks to the network provider and/or content provider rather than the end user – since digital content has value and is therefore worth stealing,” said Peterson.
“In theory, injecting spoofed content into a video stream could show an “ad” telling customers to go to a website address to “confirm their account details” – an old school-phishing technique through a new channel which, being on a TV screen instead of a web browser or email, would be more trusted by the end-user.”
“However, the amount of effort that would be required to execute such a scam, the need to have access to particular points on the network, etc, would make this a rather unlikely scenario in Australia.”
“From a privacy perspective, IPTV delivered as video on demand would generally be delivered on a per-user basis, rather than broadcast, which has some potential privacy implications for home users.”
“Their service provider could, in theory, track each programme watched to form user profiles and deliver targeted advertising, which may make people uncomfortable, depending on the types of programmes they tend to watch.”
“On the other hand, some consumers may regard the prospect of seeing ads that are more relevant to them as being a positive.”