I was told that my Apple TV contracted a virus, is this possible?? How would this even happen when the only things I have downloaded to it came directly from the Apple Store? Is it possible to bring my Apple TV box to the genius bar to have them check it for a virus?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV VIRUS??
- Thread starter rmd050678
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
We were having issues with our printer and when we had someone come to check it they said that there was a virus on it and that it was traced back to the apple tv box. I have NEVER heard of an appletv getting a virus, thought that was impossible.
No offense to them, but either your technician has no idea what he was talking about or you misunderstood him.
Conflicts? Sure. Viruses, nope.
A virus on a printer?
Thank you all....I'm dealing with an older "untechfriendly" family member who takes a techs word for GOLD and I wanted to be able to show them that the tech doesn't always "know best"
Well I'll say this: a printer virus originating from an Apple TV is certainly the laziest answer I've ever heard to get out of setting a printer up wirelessly.
I've used quite a few excuses in my time, but that one really takes the cake.
You've been lied to. That person was either a scam artist of doesn't know wtf is going on so they fed you some ********.
There's the possibility that he is trying to scam the OP. "I'll take the virus infected printer and the virus infected Apple TV away and destroy them, for a moderate fee of $100. Each."
Or he doesn't know how to update printer drivers so he blames that "newfangled Apple TV contraption."
Tell the older "untechfriendly" family member you will take the "infected" components off their hands and "dispose" of them "no charge".
Then encourage them to have their setup re-examined by the tech often.
Then encourage them to have their setup re-examined by the tech often.
Let me guess, your family member called Geek Squad.
A Wi-Fi printer is printer that gets an IP so put that IP in your browser and see it's wiki and check the settings!
You have an absolutely horrible IT person then who isn't qualified to be in their position.
EDIT: As others have stated it sounds like you're being scammed by this IT tech.
Exactly what issues where you having with the printer? What model printer do you have?
A printer being infected by malware isn't unheard of. There have been attacks in the past that flash the printers firmware and then cause it to do various things. Usually just print all the paper out of it or something equally obnoxious. However since you are dealing with firmware on something as mechanical as a printer it could be programmed to break itself.
However the AppleTV lacks the APIs to do anything with a printer, especially flash its firmware. While nothing is impossible an AppleTV infecting a printer with malware is as about as much of an impossible task as I could think of.
A printer being infected by malware isn't unheard of. There have been attacks in the past that flash the printers firmware and then cause it to do various things. Usually just print all the paper out of it or something equally obnoxious. However since you are dealing with firmware on something as mechanical as a printer it could be programmed to break itself.
However the AppleTV lacks the APIs to do anything with a printer, especially flash its firmware. While nothing is impossible an AppleTV infecting a printer with malware is as about as much of an impossible task as I could think of.
I can see why people would think that, particularly now Apple TV 4 is now a full blown OS., but no...
Apple TV can't get viruses. and if there are issues, a full restore will fix it... anything else is hardware related.
ugh yeah an Apple TV could get a virus. any computer device can get a virus.
are there any that exist for TVOs, not that the news has mentioned.
its now a full blown OS, but if there are any viruses for tvOS in future, i will change my answer.. till then.... i'm not gonna hope for something that will most likely never happen.
It's a full-blown OS running sandboxed apps. Just like iPhone and iPad.
Anybody ever heard of an iOS virus? On a non-jailbroken device?
If you mean self replicating and spreading malware (what I refer to as a virus), I don't think so. Not without a jailbreak anyway.
However there has been successful injections of malware via an infected PC then through the USB when the iPhone is connected. Basically forcefully side loading a malicious app. Without Google searching I'm fairly confident one was called Wirelurker and would only work in China (I think, might be a different country). Side loading still easily possible on the ATV? I know people were side loading emulators when the ATV4 first released.
Like you mentioned because of sand boxing the malware wasn't too harmful. I think it would phish and push ads or something.
However on Jailbroken iPhones it could reek havoc by targeting financial type apps.
Don't keep passwords in plain text on your phone though regardless. A jailbreak itself is the result of multiple exploits in iOS.
I too find it incredibly unlikely that malware could get onto an AppleTV or be especially harmful even if it did. However its still best to keep an open mind about it. If state funded malware can jump a air gap and literally blow up nuclear centrifuges then we shouldn't just drop our guard and say its impossible for malicious software to get onto an AppleTV. Especially considering an ATV can be a hub for home automation could make it a valuable target for someone.
(adjust tinfoil hat)