On January 23th, several crypto Youtube platforms noticed a Hack on its platform. Suspected hackers breached these YouTube channels and posted unauthorized videos with damaging information. Furthermore, these videos included texts which encouraged viewers to fund the hacker’s wallet. In addition, it appeared to promote a false crypto giveaway.
Here is a tweet that Ivan on Tech did about this problem:
Also, we at Altcoin Buzz suffered a similar attack, but we were fast enough to take off the clip before it infiltrated our user’s trust. Shash Gupta, the founder, and CEO of the Altcoin Buzz YouTube channel spotted the hack around 1 a.m. Singapore time. We immediately took appropriate measures to correct this problem.
On the other hand, here’s a list of other crypto youtube channels which the hack affected:
- BitBoy Crypto
- Box Mining
- Floyd Mayweather
- CoinMarketCap
- Crypto Banter
- The Moon
- MM crypto
Note: The videos published in the mentioned youtube channels had a similar goal, showing that it was a planned attack. In the video, hackers promised to reward users with new crypto called “OWCY.”
At the time of writing, the BINANCE Smart Chain wallet address indicated in the video had only 9 BNB in transactions with a total value of roughly $850. This hack joins the growing number of attacks on crypto platforms.
Is Youtube Committed to the Security of its Channels?
Several of the affected platforms raised concerns over the possibility of the attack. Some like us even had the 2-factor verification in place, but it was not enough to prevent the breach.
Therefore, there are concerns over a possible compromise on YouTube that might have permitted the hack. Also, asides from the scam videos, other users complained of funny experiences while using the site.
For example, one user said that YouTube banned his account during a live stream. Several platforms have contacted YouTube to discuss the situation and prevent a future event like this.
Moreover, many YouTube users have suggested possible ways the hack occurred. For some, a sim swap made it possible. A probe into this line of thinking showed it might not be true. According to Gu, for such a swap to be possible, he would have to lose access to his phone. However, none of that occurred.
One More Example of Hacked Youtube Channels
On the other hand, the famous Youtube channel, Boxmining, revealed that his channel suffered a similar hack and his team resolved it in a couple of minutes. However, he noted that the video gained the attention of his community.
Moreover, Gu believes that YouTube might be slightly responsible for the hack. However, after an intense internal investigation, he realized all security measures were in place. Gu noted that he found no virus or any bug that might have granted access to such illegal posting on his platform.
In a chat with Cointelegraph, Gu explained, “What we noticed was on the BRAND account (YouTube brand channels are connected to personal accounts) there was a login from the Philippines. Very likely this is either a hack on the YouTube site or a rogue employee. That’s how they got so many people at the same time.”
