Samsung is removing smart TV apps that embed residential proxy software and turning household TVs into pass-through nodes for third-party internet traffic. The action follows research from Norwegian cybersecurity firm Mnemonic showing that several apps in Samsung’s app store, including a Pac-Man title that had been featured in the platform’s Editor’s Choice section, contained code tied to residential proxy networks. Samsung said it is restricting new app registrations with proxy functionality and working to identify and remove existing apps that include it.
What Mnemonic found on Samsung TVs
Residential proxy networks, sometimes called resproxies, route web traffic through consumer devices so that requests appear to come from ordinary households rather than centralized servers. Mnemonic’s report identified multiple Samsung smart TV apps that included this functionality. Some of those apps claim hundreds of millions of installs, according to the research.
One example was a basic Pac-Man game promoted in Samsung’s Editor’s Choice area. In practice, the technology can turn a smart TV into an exit node. Once activated, the device carries traffic for outside users in the background, even when the app itself is not in use. The proxy function in the Pac-Man app activates only after the user accepts a consent prompt, and it then keeps running until the app is removed.
To verify the behavior, researcher Harrison Sand at Mnemonic rooted a Samsung TV and monitored its network activity, tracking which apps were sending and receiving traffic on behalf of outside parties. In the Pac-Man app, he found proxy code linked to Bright Data, a company that operates a large residential proxy network and sells access to scraped datasets.
Why app reviews can miss this code
Mnemonic’s findings point to a weakness in how smart TV apps are reviewed. Many apps are simple shells that load content from external servers, which means the code examined by a platform may not match what actually runs once the app is live. As Sand put it in the report, “What was reviewed is not necessarily what is running.”
That gap allows a single change on a remote server to activate proxy behavior across many devices at once, turning them into a coordinated network. The traffic is typically encrypted, which limits visibility into what is being transmitted, and because requests appear to originate from residential IP addresses, security systems find it harder to flag or block.
Where the proxied traffic appears to go
Residential proxies are not illegal and have legitimate uses, including bypassing censorship and supporting large-scale data collection. AI companies, for instance, rely on such networks to gather training data from many sources. From the traffic Sand was able to observe, some of it appeared tied to large-scale scraping, including LinkedIn data and other sources used in AI training. He noted that his view covered only a small portion of the overall activity.
Samsung’s response
After being contacted for the research, Samsung said it had begun blocking new apps with this capability and is working to remove those already in the store. “We have already restricted new app registrations that incorporate such proxy functionalities on our Smart TV platform,” a Samsung spokesperson said. “We are currently implementing strict platform-wide developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs, and we are working to identify and remove all apps currently available in our store that contain these components.”
LG is taking similar action
Samsung is not the only platform dealing with the issue. LG said in the month before Samsung’s announcement that it would also ban apps containing residential proxy software, following reports that about 42% of apps in its store were using similar technology.
What TV owners should know
For users, the practical risk is that a household device becomes part of a larger network without a clear understanding of what is happening. The proxy function documented in Mnemonic’s research only starts after a consent prompt is accepted, which means reviewing the permissions shown when installing a smart TV app is the most direct point of control. Removing an app that has been confirmed to include proxy code is the documented way to stop the background traffic, since the function continues running until the app is uninstalled.
FAQ
What is a residential proxy network?
A residential proxy network routes internet traffic through consumer devices in homes, so that requests to websites appear to come from ordinary household IP addresses instead of data centers. Operators of these networks typically pay device owners a small share and sell access to outside customers.
How were Samsung TVs being turned into proxy nodes?
Mnemonic’s research found that several Samsung smart TV apps contained code tied to residential proxy services. Once a user accepted a consent prompt inside the app, the TV could relay traffic for outside parties in the background. The Pac-Man app Mnemonic examined contained proxy code linked to Bright Data.
What is Samsung doing about it?
Samsung said it has restricted new app registrations that include proxy functionality on its smart TV platform, is implementing developer policies that explicitly ban residential proxy SDKs, and is working to identify and remove apps already in its store that contain these components.
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This article summarizes reporting from techspot.com. See our editorial disclaimer for how our articles are produced.
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