YouTube Hack: Popular Music Videos Defaced

• YouTube has been compromised by hackers calling themselves Prosox and Kuroi’sh.
• The hack has left popular music videos on YouTube with defaced titles and thumbnail images.
• The hackers are claiming they used a 'script' for the hack.

YouTube has just succumbed to a disastrous hack. Multiple high profile music videos from the video streaming platform have been defaced, while the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, Despacito - by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, has also been deleted. All the video images have been altered and are now replaced with a still from the Netflix show - Casa de Papel, which shows a masked-gang holding firearms.

Image Courtesy of The Review Geek

Famous artists whose accounts have been affected by the hack includes the likes of Chris Brown, Shakira, DJ Snake, Selena Gomez, Drake, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. Many of their videos are still available on the platform, but they come with a defaced title and a thumbnail image.

All of these altered/affected music videos were uploaded to their respective artists Vevo YouTube account. Furthermore, the video description was also altered, and it now boasts the hackers’ names - Prosox & Kuroi’sh, and many others.

NEW: ⚡ Vevo's @YouTube account hacked; attacker just changed the title and thumbnail of #Despacito Song, the most-viewed YouTube video with over 5 billion views.

Kuroi'SH is the same hacker who hacked @nowthisnews and @bbcarabicalerts Twitter accounts last week. pic.twitter.com/gKeLoJGUVm

— The Hacker News (@TheHackersNews) April 10, 2018

As of now, there is little information as to how all the famous Vevo accounts got hacked or whether or not these accounts have been exploited any further. All we know is from one of the hackers themselves who stated, “It's just for fun, I just use [the] script 'youtube-change-title-video' and I write 'hacked'...” and further added, “Don't judge me I love YouTube.”

@YouTube Its just for fun i just use script "youtube-change-title-video" and i write "hacked" don t judge me i love youtube <3

— Prosox (@ProsoxW3b) April 10, 2018

According to Prof Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert from Surrey University, “to upload and alter video content with code you should require an authorization token. [...] So, either this hacker has found a way around that need for authorization, or they are being economical with the facts, or they obtained the permissions in some other way.”

Currently, all the hacked videos have been reverted back to their normal state and the Despacito video is also back on the platform with the same 5 billion views.