Privacy Breach: LG Smart TVs Found Snooping on Networks and Recording Audio

A recent deep-dive investigation has revealed that LG smart TVs are engaging in invasive data collection practices, including mapping home networks and recording audio even when the device appears to be powered down.

🔍 The Investigation

The findings were brought to light in a comprehensive 135-minute video by Gamers Nexus, who collaborated with Level1Techs and various independent security experts. The team focused their testing on retail LG OLED models, specifically the G5 series.

Technical Methodology

To uncover these behaviors, the researchers utilized Wireshark to perform network packet captures. They discovered that the webOS operating system was actively scanning the local area network (LAN) for hardware that had nothing to do with the TV.

"Tests showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet."

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📡 Network Mapping & Data Harvesting

The TVs don't just look for the router; they perform a wide sweep of the environment to identify secondary devices.

Data Collection Summary

The Data Pipeline

The following diagram illustrates how user data flows from the home environment to LG's corporate interests:

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🎙️ Audio Logging & "Standby" Mode

One of the most alarming discoveries involves the TV's microphone. The researchers found that the device could capture clean audio while in standby mode (when the screen is off).

Key findings regarding audio:

• Voice prompts are logged in plain text.
• Privacy is maintained during offline mode $\rightarrow$ False.
• If the Ethernet cable is pulled, the TV continues to save voice inputs locally.
• Once the connection is restored, the TV immediately uploads the stored audio files.

📈 The Scale of Surveillance

LG's advertising arm, LG Ad Solutions, leverages this data on a massive scale. While LG has sold approximately 216 million TVs globally, their ad division claims access to 363 million "secondary addressable devices" in the US alone.

Mathematically, this suggests a high ratio of tracked devices per household: $\text{Tracking Ratio} = \frac{363,000,000 \text{ devices}}{216,000,000 \text{ TVs}} \approx 1.68 \text{ devices per unit}$

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⚠️ Security Vulnerabilities

Beyond privacy concerns, the team identified remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities within webOS. These flaws are currently being handled through a responsible disclosure process to allow LG to patch them.

Example of potential data packet structure:

{
  "device_scan": {
    "target": "192.168.1.15",
    "device_type": "smartphone",
    "signal_strength": "-65dBm",
    "timestamp": "2026-09-07T10:00:00Z"
  },
  "audio_log": "plain_text_voice_command_here"
}

🛠️ Final Recommendations

Due to the aggressive nature of the network listeners and data sweeps enabled by default, the researchers suggest a drastic measure for privacy-conscious users:

• Disconnect the LG TV from the internet entirely.
• Purchase an external streaming device (e.g., Apple TV, Nvidia Shield).
• Disable all unnecessary "Smart" features in the settings menu.

Source: Gamers Nexus via Notebookcheck