Smart TV Forensics Part 3

The process

Our work with Smart TVs has been challenging, as not much work has been done by others in the field. This has left us with a large amount of in-depth research into acquiring a SmartTV. Our trial run with SamyGO presented us with so many complications, that we chose not to go forward with it.

SamyGO works by altering the firmware that comes with the SmartTV. When approaching this project we decided that rooting the SmartTV with SamyGO was not the best option, since reverting it back to the original firmware is not yet possible, and the SmartTV is a piece of equipment used daily by the LCDI. We are now currently looking for ways in which we can get access to the hard drive without altering any of the SmartTV’s features.

One of the options we have begun researching includes pulling the smart TV apart and accessing the physical hard drive. Before any decisions are made we will continue to look at the many ways data can be accessed from a SmartTV.

Definition

Firmware: Firmware refers to embedded software which controls electronic devices. Well-defined boundaries between firmware and software do not exist, as both terms cover some of the same code. Typically, the term firmware deals with low-level operations in a device, without which the device would be completely non-functional.

Source: “Firmware.” – Debian Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.