What's The Deal: Protecting your smart TVs from hackers

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. (WPVI) -- Between the Super Bowl and the Eagles parade, our TVs have been in overdrive, and now a new investigation by Consumer Reports reveals troubling information about smart TVs.

This new investigation by Consumer Reports finds millions of smart TVs don't do enough to protect your security. In fact, your TV could be vulnerable to hackers.

Who's controlling your TV?

Consumer Reports has found millions of smart TVs from major manufacturers can be controlled by hackers exploiting easy to-find security vulnerabilities.

The problems affect Samsung televisions along with TV models made by TCL and other brands that use the Roku TV platform.

Maria Rerecich of Consumer Reports Electronics Testing says, "While evaluating smart TVs for data privacy and security, we came across a vulnerability in some smart TVs that can be exploited by a hacker, who could write code to control the TV without the user's permission."

CR was able to demonstrate how a hacker could potentially take over your TV, change channels, play offensive content, or turn the volume up to full blast. All without your control.

"This happens because many smart TVs have a programming interface, called an API, that lets you use for smartphone or tablet as a remote control over Wi-Fi. In some cases, we found that this API was not properly secured and that could let a hacker control your TV," said Rerecich.

This investigation marks Consumer Reports' first tests using the Digital Standard, which was developed to evaluate the privacy and security of products and services.

When CR reached out to Samsung and Roku, both companies said they take privacy and security seriously. TCL referred to Roku's response.

To find out more about what you can do to protect your personal privacy, and limit the amount of data your smart TV is collecting about you, you can go to Consumer Reports for instructions specific to your TV.