The hugely popular YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips has been hacked in order to upload live streams of cryptocurrency scams.
On March 23, 2023, Linus Tech Tips, a tech reviews YouTube channel with over 15 million subscribers, was hacked.
The actors behind the hack have now renamed the YouTube channel, and are using it to upload live streams of crypto scam videos.
The uploaded videos feature Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO, discussing cryptocurrency with the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. The video shown above was originally part of The B Word conference, hosted by Ark Invest.
Along with the main channel, two other Linus Media Group channels, TechLinked and Techquickie, were hacked. The Techquickie channel has been renamed to “Tesla”, with live videos of Musk discussing crypto also being uploaded.
It also seems that the malicious actors responsible for the hack have uploaded de-listed Linus Tech Tips videos. Some of the published videos feature instructions such as “**DO NOT USE**” and “Do Not Upload” in their titles.
The creator and owner of Linus Tech Tips, Linus Sebastian, tweeted briefly to let followers know that he was aware of the hack, but is yet to say anything further.
Linus Tech Tips Is Still Down
At the time of writing, the Linus Tech Tips channel is still down, and cannot be accessed by YouTube users. Attempts to search for the channel result in a YouTube 404 error page.
The page directing to the Linus Tech Tips channel also displays a message notifying users that the channel has been terminated for violating community guidelines.
When attempting to access one of the crypto scam uploads on the channel, it was found that it had been taken due to the closure of the account. The scam videos uploaded cannot be accessed currently, suggesting that YouTube has worked to stop the hackers in their tracks.
This Hack Comes After a String of YouTube Channel Attacks
Linus Tech Tips isn’t the first popular YouTube channel to suffer a hack. Throughout 2022 and 2023, a number of high-profile accounts have been affected by hackers, including the official British Army YouTube channel.
In the British Army channel hack, cryptocurrency scams were once again promoted by malicious actors. The organization’s Twitter account was also hacked, with the profile name, picture, and background image being changed to resemble affiliation with the “Possessed” NFT project, launched by PSSSD labs in early 2022.
YouTube May Need to Employ Further Security Measures
With numerous channels being hacked over the past year, many are wondering how YouTube will handle this major security issue. Will more be done to protect accounts or mitigate damage during hacks? Time will tell.
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