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Comments on news posted 2014-03-28 17:54:29: An Indianapolis grandmother is telling local news outlets that someone has hacked into her AT&T U-Verse cable box, and has been sending lewd and suggestive comments to house residents. ..

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Mr Fel
INTJ - The Architect
Premium Member
join:2008-03-17
Louisville, KY

Mr Fel

Premium Member

Sounds like a bad prank

I remember a new feature that would enable stb's do exactly this, the UVerse TV Notes. I haven't seen the new feature personally though.

Trimline
Premium Member
join:2004-10-24
Windermere, FL

1 edit

Trimline

Premium Member

Would make a great movie..

This would make a great movie sequel to Poltergeist (1982). Could have lots of fun with this one.
LordLawless
join:2013-11-07

1 edit

2 recommendations

LordLawless

Member

WiFi Password

I suspect that someone has her WiFi password and is using the UVerse remote control app.

As usual, the best thing about local news is the characters that they find to interview.

humanfilth
join:2013-02-14
river styx

humanfilth

Member

Wireless TV box?

Noticed in one of the frames, there was 'paired' 'link' lights(at 1:49), on what looked like a wireless access point for the Cable(IPTV) box.

5Ghz is what those access points usually are. Hackable WPS security to link the two together.

I can't tell if she also has a 'smart TV' with a camera on it.

Someone may be in her LAN.
Expand your moderator at work

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to humanfilth

Premium Member

to humanfilth

Re: Wireless TV box?

Yup it's a cisco 7005 and she has (according to the story) at least 2 TV's on her network.
I'd be looking at the kids/neighbors in nearby apts very carefully.
someone helping reset and secure the network would be a good first step.
Of course that doesn't make the evening news so it may be less interesting to do.
shmerl
join:2013-10-21

1 edit

shmerl to Trimline

Member

to Trimline

Re: Would make a great movie..

This reminds me the story of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck ghosts: »www.catb.org/jargon/html ··· ack.html

spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA

spewak

Premium Member

I saw it for myself

and it said: "Your Mother sews socks in hell"!

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I suspect she is accidentally tuning to porn

Cable/satellite boxes do have a handful of porn channels (all of them either PPV or subscription).

My grandmother has some scumbag grandchildren that were once living with her and I fortunately secured the cable boxes, otherwise she would have had a cable bill loaded with porn movies and PPV.

I'd be looking at the grandchildren, maybe they knew more about the remote than grandma.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

1 recommendation

battleop

Member

Attention whores everywhere..

What compels people to run to the local media as soon as they can? Look around for neighboring kids who have symptoms uncontroled laughter.

If I had access to this kind of prank when I was a kid there is no doubt I would have taken advantage of this. The only difference is that I would have kept it clean because it would be funny enough without being vulgar.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

3 recommendations

Happydude32 to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: I suspect she is accidentally tuning to porn

If you would have bothered to read the article or watch the video you would see that is not the case at all.
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

2 recommendations

clone (banned) to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
Did you even read the article? These were messages popping up on the screen, not speech. I've never seen any porn that insulted me personally with digital on-screen messages, although there might be a niche fetish for that...maybe you could monetize that idea?

goalieskates
Premium Member
join:2004-09-12
land of big

goalieskates to battleop

Premium Member

to battleop

Re: Attention whores everywhere..

said by battleop:

What compels people to run to the local media as soon as they can?

Well, if nothing else it lets people know all that cool stuff they were sold can be hacked. I'd say that's worth something.

SYNACK
Just Firewall It
Mod
join:2001-03-05
Venice, CA

SYNACK

Mod

"this man"?

"I want this man out of my life," says the grandmother. "I want him to go to jail."

So they don't know who it is, but for some obscure reason they already determine the gender and age range.

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

thedragonmas

Premium Member

said by SYNACK:

"I want this man out of my life," says the grandmother. "I want him to go to jail."

So they don't know who it is, but for some obscure reason they already determine the gender and age range.

most people where taught that when the sex is unknown to assume male when writing. this is probably a simple throw over. its easier than saying "i want he she or it to go to jail"

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Easy Fix

Hard wire that box, someone cracked the wifi key on the wireless box to ap. I bet she is using the default values and thus someone has figured out how the key is generated.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

1 recommendation

Mr Guy to thedragonmas

Anon

to thedragonmas

Re: "this man"?

I would says odds are male. Of course you never know with today's youth. I would say however if you went to most messagebaord and found out the percentage of trolls that were male vs the percentage of that messageboard's members that were male males would be the vast majority of the trolls.

David0417
Premium Member
join:2001-02-22
Clover, SC

David0417

Premium Member

How this was done

Connect to wifi use the AT&T U-Verse app not the Easy Remote app, in the U-Verse app select remote control than select search, this is exactly what was happening to her on the video from the news reporter. One of her neighbors got her wifi password.
28201209 (banned)
join:2014-03-13

28201209 (banned) to Happydude32

Member

to Happydude32

Re: I suspect she is accidentally tuning to porn

People around here actually read and understand articles, especially him? That's a new one for a lot of the people around here.
verta
join:2007-05-29
Tallahassee, FL

verta to LordLawless

Member

to LordLawless

Re: WiFi Password

This.

Ma'am. Change Your Wifi Password. Now, please.

And that security expert they interviewed not thinking of this (face palm).

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

3 edits

Darknessfall to Mr Fel

Premium Member

to Mr Fel

Re: Sounds like a bad prank

This isn't TV notes. According to the video, it was supposedly happening on the screen real time and they typed the channel that was over reporting it. Maybe some idiot found out that they can point a remote in a way that it was in range of the receiver. Maybe they used the U-verse remote app after they received access to the 2wire network. The thing is, you would have to do the whole "Enable Receiver" process with the default remote yourself before any app would control it.
1)Grandma doesn't secure her network and was stupid enough to enable the receiver to be controlled by the app while connected to the network.
2) Someone has direct LOS to the STB
3) Like #1, but there is someone who hacked the key.
4) Like #1, but someone thought it would be fun to constantly press the WPS button on their gateway and let someone connect. I don't believe the WAPs which are solely for the STBs allow non STBs on their networks as far as I noticed.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

going around?

I heard about this on the radio a few days ago about porn ending up on the kids channels.. Apparently the cable companies don't want the USA to become like Denmark with a dwindling population-- trying to get them off to an early start!

»www.wral.com/news/local/ ··· 7240479/

Mr Fel
INTJ - The Architect
Premium Member
join:2008-03-17
Louisville, KY

Mr Fel to Darknessfall

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to Darknessfall

Re: Sounds like a bad prank

Well, more stories like this are likely to pop up after TV Notes sees widespread use. I don't really care how they're doing it, still sounds like a bad prank.
28201209 (banned)
join:2014-03-13

28201209 (banned) to tmc8080

Member

to tmc8080

Re: going around?

Try actually reading the article.
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC

cramer

Premium Member

... or look at the date of the article -- that was 4 years ago, and completely unrelated (it was an error in the cable network.)
cramer

cramer

Premium Member

Right, call the poh-poh

Yes, let's call in the police, they're aces at technology crimes!

Seriously, the average high school teen should be able to solve this in about 5 minutes.
28201209 (banned)
join:2014-03-13

28201209 (banned) to cramer

Member

to cramer

Re: going around?

I wasn't referring to the article he linked to. It is moronically obvious this has nothing to do with porn.
47717768 (banned)
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL

47717768 (banned)

Member

BuddyTV app gains control over AT&T U-verse TV boxes

That is interesting »www.tuaw.com/2011/10/19/ ··· v-boxes/
Technicholas
Premium Member
join:2010-11-11
West Des Moines, IA

Technicholas

Premium Member

The person is connected using the uverse remote app and connected to her wifi..

stevennb
Ok, But, Thats The Last Straw.
Premium Member
join:2001-05-08
Wayne, NJ

stevennb to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy

Re: I suspect she is accidentally tuning to porn

GRANDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
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