By Andrew Bunten, COO of Video Entertainment at Irdeto
For many years, we thought of the living room as the safest space in the home, where the television was little more than a passive screen. That sense of safety no longer matches reality. Today’s televisions, whether connected TVs or set-top boxes, have quietly become powerful computing devices. They may contain microphones or cameras, store user profiles and payment credentials and support vast ecosystems of apps that often operate without meaningful oversight.
With that transformation, the living room has become one of the richest data environments in the home. It contains personal information, behavioural patterns, and direct access to the household network. These factors make the environment valuable to attackers and reveal a cybersecurity challenge the industry is still learning to manage.
The scale of the threat is already visible. A 2024 analysis recorded more than thirty-three million malware, adware and unwanted software attacks on Android devices in a single year. Roughly 35% of those detections were adware. Because many connected televisions are built on Android-based platforms, these threats apply directly to the devices sitting in our homes.
The living room is now an active attack surface
Today, smart TVs function like computers, driven by sophisticated operating systems that manage multiple user profiles and host millions of applications across vast app ecosystems.
This convenience has created exposure. Many apps are legitimate, but others enter the ecosystem without meaningful review. Some arrive already compromised. Others begin clean and turn harmful later, often after a routine update that no user questions. This is the trend often described as “good apps gone bad.”
Repackaged malware is another growing issue. Attackers take a trusted app, modify its code and redistribute it in ways that appear authentic. These altered versions can gather personal information or open pathways for deeper intrusion.
Risk is amplified by how modern operators enable multiple family profiles on a single device. Parents, children and guests often share the same connected TV, each with different app access and behaviours. This expands convenience, but also exposure. In practice, security in the living room is only as strong as the least protected profile.
At the same time, the connected TV is no longer a single endpoint. It is increasingly becoming a control layer with visibility into cameras, doorbells, speakers, sensors, and future AI-assisted monitoring tools that promise to act as digital security guards or even virtual nannies. This convergence brings consumer value, but it also concentrates power in a single device. In that environment, a single careless download or ignored permission from one user could expose not only viewing habits, but physical movement, daily routines, voice interactions, and the private rhythms of the entire household.
Illegal streaming apps have evolved into data extraction tools
Piracy once revolved around free access to shows and movies. That alone affected revenues for rights holders and streaming platforms. But piracy today is about more than content. It has become a mechanism for collecting data from inside the home.
Research into these illegal apps reveals exceptionally high malware rates. Some categories show complete infection in samples tested. A European study from the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance found that there is a 57% probability that any given piracy app contains embedded malware. This means that in many cases, the majority of users who install these apps are putting their households at risk without knowing it.
A consumer survey conducted in 2025 by Broadband TV News provides another layer of insight. Nearly four in ten people who used illegal streams in the previous year reported financial loss connected to their use of those services. The average loss was one thousand six hundred and eighty pounds and 11% of victims lost more than seven thousand five hundred pounds. These incidents involve real families who believed they were simply watching content.
Free content acts as the lure, but data is the target. Illegal streaming apps gather personal information, location details, network activity, voice interactions, and often payment credentials. Criminal groups have shifted their business models toward identity theft, financial fraud and large-scale data resale. Content piracy has become the gateway, not the goal.
Regulators are raising the bar
Governments are responding with stronger expectations for how personal data is collected and protected. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was one of the first major signals that data privacy would no longer be treated as a secondary concern. Introduced in Europe, it established strict rules for how organisations gather, store and use personal information, along with meaningful penalties for those who fail to protect it.
That early shift influenced global thinking, and momentum is accelerating. Countries such as South Korea, Singapore, and several European markets are reviewing new standards for how connected devices manage and safeguard the data that moves through the home.
Regulators increasingly view operators as the responsible party when something goes wrong on a managed device. Consumers rarely distinguish between the developer of an app, the platform provider or the operator who supplied the device. When a breach occurs, someone must be accountable.
Penalties for privacy failures are rising, with fines escalating into the millions. Regulators are sending a clear message that connected televisions are no longer exempt from the expectations placed on phones, computers, and other digital devices.
Operators are being pulled in multiple directions
Operators sit at the intersection of user expectations, platform requirements, and regulatory pressure. Consumers want the freedom to install apps easily and explore new services without friction, whilst platform agreements often require open app stores. At the same time, users increasingly hold operators responsible for the safety of the devices in their homes.
This creates a difficult balance. Operators are expected to ensure safety in an ecosystem they do not fully control, without limiting user freedom or creating frustration. Traditional app screening cannot keep up with this reality, because an app that is safe at launch may become dangerous months later. Updates may introduce new behaviours, and ownership of an app may even change.
As a result, operators need a new operating model. They require continuous visibility into how apps behave, early warning when behaviour changes, and the ability to act quickly and responsibly without disrupting the user experience. This is not only a technical requirement; it is a strategic necessity.
The path forward is shared responsibility
The future of living room security cannot rely on any single stakeholder. Consumers expect safety, whilst platforms must support stronger oversight. At the same time, operators need tools that allow continuous monitoring and responsible intervention, and regulators must continue defining clear standards.
The living room has changed. It is no longer only a place to watch television; instead, it has become a digital environment filled with sensitive information that deserves the same level of security we expect from our phones, laptops and financial apps.
However, illegal streaming apps, weak oversight, and increasingly capable connected devices have created new risks that demand attention. Because of this, the next era of streaming will be defined not just by convenience or content, but by trust. Trust in the device, trust in the ecosystem, and trust that personal data is safe.
Organisations that understand this shift and act on it will help define the future of home entertainment. By stepping forward as accountable guardians of trust in an otherwise fragmented ecosystem, they can earn confidence from users and credibility from regulators. In a world where data is scattered across countless apps, platforms, and services, this clarity of responsibility becomes a powerful advantage.
As the streaming ecosystem grows more complex, operators need stronger ways to monitor applications, manage risk, and protect users across connected devices. Technologies that enable real-time oversight and responsible intervention can help operators maintain trust while preserving the openness consumers expect.
Irdeto Control provides operators with powerful tools to monitor applications running on connected TVs and set-top boxes, identify suspicious or unauthorised behaviour and take action before risks escalate. With real-time visibility and policy enforcement across the device ecosystem, operators can protect users, secure platforms and maintain trust in the streaming experience.
To learn more about how Irdeto Control helps operators secure the connected living room, visit Irdeto.com or contact our team to schedule a discussion.
