South Korean Government’s YouTube Account Hacked to Broadcast Crypto Video

06-Sep-2022 By: Simran Mishra

The South Korean government's YouTube account was hacked on Saturday, September 3, to broadcast a film on cryptocurrency, but it has now been restored.

On Saturday morning, the title of the government's official channel on the video-sharing platform appeared to have been changed to "SpaceX Invest." According to a South Korean media outlet, it displayed a live broadcast on cryptocurrencies on September 3 that included an interview with Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla.

An official from the ministry of culture and tourism, managing YouTube account, stated that the problem was discovered in the early morning. Later, measures were taken and the account was successfully restored on Saturday afternoon.

According to the official, the account's user ID and password had been compromised. Google, YouTube's parent company, acknowledged that the channel had been hacked, with a Google Korea spokesperson noting that the company is looking into the circumstances behind the incident.

Cyber attacks in South Korea have increased in the recent week

The cyberattack follows a breach that occurred earlier this week on a YouTube channel managed by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

According to KTO, a channel with roughly 509,000 users was targeted for the first time on September 1 and then again the next day. As per a KTO official, Google will immediately disable access to the account if it detects any unusual connections attempting to log in.

This was not the first time a YouTube channel was hacked in order to broadcast cryptocurrency-related videos. Last month, the British military's official YouTube account was also hacked, and displayed videos related to cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency scam revenue has dropped by 65% in a year, as the latest hack on a South Korean government channel becomes the latest effort to deceive investors.

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