New research has revealed that several popular Samsung smart TV apps include code that shares users’ internet connections with strangers by turning the TVs into residential proxy exit nodes. This software can secretly funnel web traffic for outsiders, even when the app is not actively open. Some of these apps, reportedly installed on hundreds of millions of devices, include a Pac-Man game endorsed by Samsung in its “Editor’s Choice” section. The apps often serve as simple shells loading content from web servers, masking the proxy code’s true activity during app reviews.

The implications for users are significant since these residential proxies are increasingly tied to cybercrime. By sharing network access via these apps, users risk having their home internet connections hijacked to obfuscate malicious traffic or carry out large-scale web scraping. The research conducted by Norwegian company Mnemonic involved rooting a Samsung TV and analyzing network flows, uncovering that the Pac-Man app’s proxy functionality came from Bright Data, an Israeli firm specialized in residential proxy networks. Users must consent to activate the proxy, but a small code change could fraudulently turn millions of TVs into a botnet.

In response to these findings and following a similar action by LG last month, Samsung announced it is banning smart TV apps that share users’ internet connections. The company is restricting new app submissions using residential proxy SDKs and working to remove existing apps with this functionality from its app store. Samsung stated these moves are part of a broader effort to tighten developer policies and protect consumers from the risks associated with hidden proxy software embedded in seemingly innocent apps.

Residential proxy networks are commonly used for purposes ranging from evading censorship to large-scale AI data scraping, but they are also favored by hackers to hide their tracks. The encrypted traffic passing through these proxies appears to originate from ordinary residential IP addresses, complicating cybersecurity defenses. This revelation underscores the growing security challenges posed by unauthorized proxy use embedded in everyday consumer devices like smart TVs, potentially exposing millions to covert network exploitation.