Smart TVs can harbor unpatched security flaws and track what you watch

Bitdefender's 2026 IoT Security Landscape Report reveals that smart TVs and connected plugs account for a large share of unpatched security flaws and actively track what users watch. For website owners, this means a growing segment of traffic will originate from compromised or privacy‑focused TV browsers that may masquerade as legitimate users while siphoning viewing data. Those devices often run lightweight browsers or embedded AI assistants that can scrape site content, inflate analytics, and expose sites to credential‑stealing scripts. The report’s emphasis on “unpatched” firmware suggests attackers can inject malicious bots directly into the TV’s network stack, creating persistent, hard‑to‑detect crawlers that bypass traditional desktop‑oriented defenses. **Actionable steps:** 1. Add a dedicated `User‑Agent` rule in your `llms.txt` to block known smart‑TV browsers and IoT agents (e.g., “SmartTV/”, “LGWebOS/”, “SamsungSmartTV/”). 2. Deploy behavior‑based bot detection that flags low‑resolution screen sizes, unusual viewport ratios, and constant “watch‑time” patterns typical of TV scrapers. 3. Regularly audit your server logs for spikes in requests from home‑router IP ranges associated with Bitdefender’s flagged devices, and enforce stricter rate‑limiting or CAPTCHA challenges for those sources.