Samsung follows LG in killing Smart TV apps that rent out your internet

Samsung is cracking down on Smart TV apps that bundle residential proxy software after security researchers found the technology embedded in several popular gaming titles, including one the company had previously promoted as an Editor’s Choice recommendation.

The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it has already blocked new Smart TV app submissions that include residential proxy functionality. It is now rolling out stricter developer policies while working to remove existing apps containing the software.

The move comes after Norwegian cybersecurity firm Mnemonic took a deep dive into Samsung’s Tizen platform, rooting a Smart TV to understand how residential proxy SDKs end up on consumer devices. Its investigation uncovered Bright Data’s SDK in several games, including Pac-Man, a title that had been surfaced through Samsung’s own recommendations.

If you’re unfamiliar with residential proxies, they are services that route internet traffic through ordinary home internet connections. They have legitimate uses, including web data collection and bypassing internet restrictions, but they’ve also become a popular tool for cybercriminals looking to hide malicious activity behind residential IP addresses. That’s why their growing presence in consumer apps has drawn increasing scrutiny.

The good news is that the researchers didn’t find Samsung TVs automatically sharing their owners’ internet connections. Instead, the Bright Data SDK remained dormant unless remotely enabled by the app developer. At that point, users would see a consent prompt before the service could be activated. Once accepted, however, the proxy service continued running in the background even after the game itself had been closed.

Arguably, the more concerning discovery wasn’t the SDK itself but how these apps are built. Mnemonic found that many Samsung TV apps function as lightweight shells that download much of their actual code from remote servers. That’s great for developers, who can ship updates without waiting for app review, but it also creates a blind spot. Features can change after an app has already been approved, making it far more difficult for Samsung or any app store operator to verify what users are ultimately running on their devices.

This isn’t just a Samsung problem, either. The researchers note that residential proxy software has appeared in Android apps, Android TV streaming boxes, digital picture frames, and other always-connected devices, underscoring how widespread the practice has become.

Samsung’s policy change follows a series of industry moves against residential proxy networks. Last month, LG said (via KrebsonSecurity) it would ban residential proxy software from its Smart TV app store after separate research found the technology in a significant portion of its TV apps.

Around the same time, Google disrupted the NetNut residential proxy network, disabled the infrastructure that operated it, and updated Google Play Protect to automatically warn users about Android apps that contain the NetNut SDK. Google said millions of devices — including smart TVs and streaming boxes — had been enrolled into such networks, allowing attackers to route traffic through unsuspecting users’ home internet connections.

If anything, Samsung’s latest policy suggests the industry is finally starting to respond.