July 3: FBI and Google cut off two million hijacked smart TVs that were renting out families' home internet to criminals

On July 3, Google, in coordination with the FBI, Lumen and other partners, disrupted NetNut, a proxy network built on at least two million compromised devices globally — mostly smart TVs and streaming boxes sitting in people's living rooms. The malware came pre-installed before purchase or hid inside apps users unknowingly installed, and it quietly turned each device into an exit point that let criminals route attacks through ordinary families' home internet connections. In a single week in June 2026, researchers observed 316 distinct threat clusters, including cybercriminal and espionage groups, riding on those devices.