I knew things were not quite right when I had to throw a towel over a broken Ikea lamp to block out its light. How did I get here? I cover fancy and capable tech for a living, and yet, it took me two years to get rid of a pair of old, broken Ikea lamps in my bedroom. Then I got some floor lamps from Govee that changed everything.
Technology
Why your Android TV box may secretly be a part of a botnet
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Android TV streaming boxes that promise “everything for one price” are everywhere right now.
You’ll see them on big retail sites, in influencer videos, and even recommended by friends who swear they’ve cut the cord for good. And to be fair, they look irresistible on paper, offering thousands of channels for a one-time payment. But security researchers are warning that some of these boxes may come with a hidden cost.
In several cases, devices sold as simple media streamers appear to quietly turn your home internet connection into part of larger networks used for shady online activity. And many buyers have no idea it’s happening.
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WHY JANUARY IS THE BEST TIME TO REMOVE PERSONAL DATA ONLINE
Android TV streaming boxes promising unlimited channels for a one-time fee may quietly turn home internet connections into proxy networks, according to security researchers. (Photo By Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
What’s inside these streaming boxes
According to an investigation by Krebs on Security, media streaming devices don’t behave like ordinary media streamers once they’re connected to your network. Researchers closely examine SuperBox, which is an Android-based streaming box sold through third-party sellers on major retail platforms. On paper, SuperBox markets itself as just hardware. The company claims it doesn’t pre-install pirated apps and insists users are responsible for what they install. That sounds reassuring until you look at how the device actually works.
To unlock the thousands of channels SuperBox advertises, you must first remove Google’s official app ecosystem and replace it with an unofficial app store. That step alone should raise eyebrows. Once those custom apps are installed, the device doesn’t just stream video but also begins routing internet traffic through third-party proxy networks.
What this means is that your home internet connection may be used to relay traffic for other people. That traffic can include ad fraud, credential stuffing attempts and large-scale web scraping.
During testing by Censys, a cyber intelligence company that tracks internet-connected devices, SuperBox models immediately contacted servers tied to Tencent’s QQ messaging service, run by Tencent, as well as a residential proxy service called Grass.
Grass describes itself as an opt-in network that lets you earn rewards by sharing unused internet bandwidth. This suggests that SuperBox devices may be using SDKs or tooling that hijack bandwidth without clear user consent, effectively turning the box into a node inside a proxy network.
Why SuperBox activity resembles botnet behavior
In simple terms, a botnet is a large group of compromised devices that work together to route traffic or perform online tasks without the owners realizing it.
Researchers discovered SuperBox devices contained advanced networking and remote access tools that have no business being on a streaming box. These included utilities like Tcpdump and Netcat, which are commonly used for network monitoring and traffic interception.
The devices performed DNS hijacking and ARP poisoning on local networks, techniques used to redirect traffic and impersonate other devices on the same network. Some models even contained directories labeled “secondstage,” suggesting additional payloads or functionality beyond streaming.
SuperBox is just one brand in a crowded market of no-name Android streaming devices. Many of them promise free content and quick setup, but often come preloaded with malware or require unofficial app stores that expose users to serious risk.
In July 2025, Google filed a lawsuit against operators behind what it called the BADBOX 2.0 botnet, a network of more than ten million compromised Android devices. These devices were used for advertising fraud and proxy services, and many were infected before consumers even bought them.
Around the same time, the Feds warned that compromised streaming and IoT devices were being used to gain unauthorized access to home networks and funnel traffic into criminal proxy services.
We reached out to SuperBox for comment but did not receive a response before our deadline.
8 steps you can take to protect yourself
If you already own one of these streaming boxes or are thinking about buying one, these steps can help reduce your risk significantly.
1) Avoid devices that require unofficial app stores
If a streaming box asks you to remove Google Play or install apps from an unknown marketplace, stop right there. This bypasses Android’s built-in security checks and opens the door to malicious software. Legitimate Android TV devices don’t require this.
2) Use strong antivirus software on your devices
Even if the box itself is compromised, strong antivirus software on your computers and phones can detect suspicious network behavior, malicious connections or follow-on attacks like credential stuffing. Strong antivirus software monitors behavior, not just files, which matters when malware operates quietly in the background. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.
Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.
3) Put streaming devices on a separate or guest network
If your router supports it, isolate smart TVs and streaming boxes from your main network. This prevents a compromised device from seeing your laptops, phones or work systems. It’s one of the simplest ways to limit damage if something goes wrong.
4) Use a password manager
If your internet connection is being abused, stolen credentials often come next. A password manager ensures every account uses a unique password, so one leak doesn’t unlock everything. Many password managers also refuse to autofill on suspicious or fake websites, which can alert you before you make a mistake.
MAKE 2026 YOUR MOST PRIVATE YEAR YET BY REMOVING BROKER DATA
Investigators warn some Android-based streaming boxes route user bandwidth through third-party servers linked to ad fraud and cybercrime. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Next, see if your email has been exposed in past breaches. Our No. 1 password manager pick includes a built-in breach scanner that checks whether your email address or passwords have appeared in known leaks. If you discover a match, immediately change any reused passwords and secure those accounts with new, unique credentials.
Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com.
5) Consider using a VPN for sensitive activity
A VPN won’t magically fix a compromised device, but it can reduce exposure by encrypting your traffic when browsing, banking or working online. This makes it harder for third parties to inspect or misuse your data if your network is being relayed.
For the best VPN software, see my expert review of the best VPNs for browsing the web privately on your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.
6) Watch your internet usage and router activity
Unexpected spikes in bandwidth, slower speeds or strange outbound connections can be warning signs. Many routers show connected devices and traffic patterns.
If you notice suspicious traffic or behavior, unplug the streaming box immediately and perform a factory reset on your router. In some cases, the safest option is to stop using the device altogether.
Also, make sure your router firmware is up to date and that you’ve changed the default admin password. Compromised devices often try to exploit weak router settings to persist on a network.
7) Be wary of “free everything” streaming promises
Unlimited premium channels for a one-time fee usually mean you’re paying in some other way, often with your data, bandwidth or legal exposure. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
8) Consider a data removal service
If your internet connection or accounts have been abused, your personal details may already be circulating among data brokers. A data removal service can help opt you out of people-search sites and reduce the amount of personal information criminals can exploit for follow-up scams or identity theft. While it won’t fix a compromised device, it can limit long-term exposure.
10 SIMPLE CYBERSECURITY RESOLUTIONS FOR A SAFER 2026
Cyber experts say certain low-cost streaming devices behave more like botnet nodes than legitimate media players once connected to home networks. (Photo by Alessandro Di Ciommo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.
Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaway
Streaming boxes like SuperBox thrive on frustration. As subscriptions pile up, people look for shortcuts. But when a device promises everything for nothing, it’s worth asking what it’s really doing behind the scenes. Research shows that some of these boxes don’t just stream TV. They quietly turn your home network into a resource for others, sometimes for criminal activity. Cutting the cord shouldn’t mean giving up control of your internet connection. Before plugging in that “too good to be true” box, it’s worth slowing down and looking a little closer.
Would you still use a streaming box if it meant sharing your internet with strangers? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Multiple sources are reporting that the Trump administration has dismissed the entire National Science Board (NSB). The NSB advises the president and Congress on the National Science Foundation (NSF), which has already been funding research at historically low levels and has seen significant delays in doling out that funding. The NSF has been fundamental in helping develop technology used in MRIs, cellphones, and it even helped get Duolingo get off the ground.
In a statement, Zoe Lofgren, the ranking Democrat on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, said:
“This is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation. The NSB is apolitical. It advises the president on the future of NSF. It unfortunately is no surprise a president who has attacked NSF from day one would seek to destroy the board that helps guide the Foundation. Will the president fill the NSB with MAGA loyalists who won’t stand up to him as he hands over our leadership in science to our adversaries? A real bozo the clown move.”
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Go to any people finder site right now and type in your name. What comes back might shock you: your age, home address, phone number, the names of your relatives, where you used to live and even what your property is worth.
You didn’t put that there, and you never consented to it. Still, it’s out there, and anyone with an internet connection can see it.
Scammers figured this out a long time ago. Since then, they’ve turned it into a system for targeting you, your parents and your kids.
So how does it actually work, and more importantly, what can you do to stop it?
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HOW TO REMOVE YOUR PERSONAL INFO FROM PEOPLE SEARCH SITES
A single person search result can reveal your address, relatives and years of personal history in seconds. (Kury “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How scammers find your personal data online
Before a criminal sends a phishing email or makes a call, they do their homework. Importantly, they don’t need to hack anything. Instead, they use the same public websites that anyone can access.
In less than 10 minutes, a scammer can build a detailed profile on you using data broker sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified and Intelius. Here’s what that profile looks like and how they build it step by step.
Step 1: How scammers search your name on people finder sites
It starts simply. A scammer types your name into a search site. Within seconds, they see results like:
John M. Patterson | Age: 61 | Cleveland, OH
- Also known as: John Michael Patterson
- Current address: [your street address]
- Previous addresses: 4 records found
- Phone numbers: 2 found
- Email addresses: 3 found
- Relatives: 5 found
That is the starting point. Many sites show partial data for free. That is often enough to confirm identity. Full reports cost only a few dollars, so access is easy. Scammers can repeat this process hundreds of times a day, building detailed profiles with very little effort.
Step 2: How scammers map your family and relatives
Next, this is where things get personal. Data broker profiles show more than your name. They reveal your family network.
That often includes:
- Spouse or partner
- Children
- Parents
- Siblings
- Roommates
As a result, scammers can target more than one person. For example, they may learn that your elderly parent lives alone or your child just moved. Because of that, scams like the grandparent scam feel real instead of random.
Step 3: How scammers use your address history
At this point, your address history becomes critical. It is not just about where you live. Instead, scammers use it to:
- Verify identity
- Find relatives
- Build trust
For example, referencing a past address makes a caller sound legitimate. That detail alone can lower suspicion.
Step 4: How scammers use your financial data
More importantly, data brokers also reveal financial clues. These may include:
- Estimated income
- Home value
- Ownership status
- Length of residence
This information comes from public records, not hacking. Because of this, scammers tailor their approach. Higher-income targets may see investment scams.
Others may get job or rental scams instead.
GOOGLE SEARCH LED TO A COSTLY SCAM CALL
Scammers use data broker profiles to map your family and build more convincing, targeted attacks. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Step 5: How scammers verify and cross-check your data
Before launching a scam, criminals often double-check everything. They don’t rely on just one site. Instead, they compare multiple data broker profiles, social media accounts and public records to confirm details are accurate.
For example, they may:
- Match your address across different sites
- Check Facebook or LinkedIn to confirm family relationships
- Look for recent moves, job changes or life events
Because of this, the profile becomes more reliable. That extra step is what turns a guess into something that feels real.
Step 6: How scammers create targeted scams
At that point, they have everything they need. They know your name, family, address and financial details. Now the scam becomes highly specific.
By the time you hear from them, they already know enough to sound like someone you trust.
- They may call your parent pretending to be you
- They may bypass bank security questions
- They may send texts that look like your child
- They may send emails that reference your life
As a result, the scam feels believable.
Data broker scams are already being prosecuted
This has already landed in court. The U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted companies like Epsilon, Macromark Inc. and KBM Group for selling data to scammers. Epsilon alone paid $150 million to victims.
At the same time, data tied to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center shows more than half of fraud cases involving older Americans were linked to exposed personal data. That shows how serious this problem has become.
Why is your personal data on data broker sites
You do not need to sign up for these sites. Instead, your data comes from many sources, including:
- Voter records
- Property records
- Court filings
- Social media
- Marketing surveys
- Loyalty programs
- Phone directories
- Other data brokers
Because of this, your information spreads quickly.
Why your data keeps reappearing online
Even after removal, your data often comes back. Data brokers constantly update their databases. They buy and resell fresh records. Because of that, one-time removal is not enough.
By the time a scam reaches you or your family, it is often built on real data pulled from multiple public sources. (Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg)
How to disrupt a scammer’s research before they reach your family
The goal isn’t to disappear completely. It’s to make the profile messy enough, incomplete enough and hard enough to find that scammers move on to easier targets.
Here’s what you can do:
- Search for yourself first. Go to Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified or any other people search site, and look up your own name. See exactly what’s there before a scammer does. That snapshot is your starting point.
- Submit opt-out requests manually. Every major data broker is required to honor removal requests. The catch: There are hundreds of them, each with its own process, and they relist your information regularly. It’s a full-time job.
- Use an automated removal service. This is where I strongly recommend a data removal service. Instead of spending hours submitting individual opt-out forms, a data removal service sends removal requests to 420-plus data brokers on your behalf and keeps sending them when your data reappears. Because it will reappear.
- Set up family alerts. Tell your elderly relatives that you will never ask for money via text from an unknown number. Establish a code word. Scams work because they create panic. A simple family protocol breaks the spell.
- Change your security questions. If your bank still uses “mother’s maiden name” or “city you were born in” as verification, that information is likely already on a data broker site. Switch to nonsense answers that only you know and store them in a password manager.
Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com
Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com
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Kurt’s key takeaways
This kind of scam works because it feels personal. When someone knows your name, your family and even where you used to live, your guard drops. That is exactly what criminals are counting on.
The uncomfortable truth is that your information is already out there, often in more places than you realize. You do not need to panic, but you do need to be proactive. The more you limit what is easily accessible, the harder it becomes for someone to build a convincing story around you. Start with a simple search of your own name. That one step can completely change how you think about your digital footprint. From there, take action to remove what you can and protect what you cannot.
If a stranger can build a detailed profile on your family in minutes, what does that say about how much of your life is already exposed online? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report
- Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox.
- For simple, real-world ways to spot scams early and stay protected, visit CyberGuy.com – trusted by millions who watch CyberGuy on TV daily.
- Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide free when you join.
Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Those Ikea lamps were around for two years after I moved from Orange County to Los Angeles. Soon after that move, my mom’s Parkinson’s disease — a neurodegenerative condition with no cure — progressed quickly, my mental health took a hit, and most of my own to-do list quietly slid to the back burner as she lost mobility and more urgent things took over. So the big, ugly lamps just… stayed. They became part of the background, like everything else I wasn’t taking care of.
I didn’t even have them plugged into a smart plug — another small upgrade I kept meaning to add to my bedroom, despite having them all over the apartment — which meant I had to get up every time I wanted to turn one on.
One blasted harsh, overpoweringly bright light through a cracked shade. The other was warmer — but not warm enough — so I solved that problem one exhausted night by just throwing a towel over it. Yes, a fire hazard. Yes, I meant it as a temporary fix for a few days. But scattered caregiving brain means temporary fixes can turn into long-term solutions. At some point, it stopped feeling temporary and just became my new normal, even if it clearly wasn’t.
Then my brother bought my mom and me two separate Govee Uplighter Floor Lamps for Christmas, and my Ikea lamp troubles were over. I did not expect to develop an emotional attachment to a lamp. But I did, and now it’s one of my favorite gadgets.
The Govee was quick and easy to assemble, and much slimmer, taking up way less space than the old lamps. As I got rid of the old and set up the new, I felt an odd sense of relief and a small sense of control I hadn’t felt since the move.
Within a week, the old lamp was out of my room. That small shift gave me momentum. I started decluttering other corners that had quietly piled up, things I’d been stepping around for months without really seeing anymore.
The bedroom stopped feeling like an unfinished project I was merely surviving, and started feeling steadier. Calmer. Like a place I could finally exhale in. My days often feel structured around what my mom needs and what has to get done next. I don’t really think about my own space at all, except as something else I haven’t gotten to yet. Having a room that felt calm, even a little bit, made it easier to wind down at the end of the day instead of carrying that feeling of being “on” all the time into the night. It brought me back to myself, even if only a little.
I could relax in a way I hadn’t in a while, without feeling like I should be getting up to do something else. I could dim the lamp from my phone instead of standing up. I could shift from cool to warm without needing a towel and risking starting a fire. There’s a ripple effect that slowly moves across the wall and, for reasons I can’t fully explain, genuinely helps me fall asleep. Cycling through soft colors in the app and syncing it with ambient music is soothing. Sometimes, the changing colors feel a little bit like magic, and I find myself watching them the way I might have as a kid, reminded — briefly — that life can be more playful than it’s felt in a while. The warm, shifting light seems to have a similar effect on my mom, who lives with me, sometimes comforting and even dazzling her as she navigates some of the more difficult parts of the disease, like sundowning, along with her own quiet grief of losing pieces of herself.
And I love that it does all that and more without demanding much. Setup took about 15 to 20 minutes and didn’t require that I try to wrap my head around tools. You control it through the Govee app on your phone, and because it supports Matter, you can also pair it with platforms like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control. It offers a wide range of colors, along with 80 preset scenes and seven music modes. At $179.99, it’s pricey, but it’s versatile, basically acting as three lights in one: a top section that casts a soft ripple onto the ceiling, a colorful middle light, and a regular white light at the bottom.
It’s an amazing gift, truly, and I am so grateful for it. Mine, however, had just one problem: It sometimes forgets to be a lamp. It doesn’t lose Wi-Fi. It doesn’t show as offline in the app. It just turns off randomly. The first time it happened, I was rewatching Stranger Things to prepare for the last season. The lights flickered on screen, and then my room went dark. The vibe went from relaxing to terrifying in a second, as I briefly wondered if reality and TV had merged (I might have also had too much wine). Once my brain rebooted, I opened the Govee app and turned it back on. No problem. I assumed it was a power or Wi-Fi issue. Govee sent me a new unit that worked perfectly.
When it works — which is most of the time — it quietly makes my life better. And somehow, that’s been enough to make it one of my new favorite gadgets. It didn’t fix everything, but it helped me start taking care of my space — and myself — again.
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