Crypto YouTube Hack Hits BitBoy, Andreas Antonopoulos, Coin Bureau
Some of the biggest crypto YouTubers were affected by a mass hacking incident this week. The hack involved a scam, where the attackers attempted to get the crypto YouTubers’ viewers to send them funds. They did so by posting a video to these channels, involving the launch of a supposedly new token.
The video mentioned that by sending funds to the address in the video, you would be able to invest in the pre-sale of a new cryptocurrency called One World Cryptocurrency.
Ivan On Tech was among the first to rush to get news of this hack out in to the open. He posted an emergency video on his YouTube channel straight after realising what had happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgDOm_ODlXI&t=1s
In the video, he mentioned that many other YouTubers had also been affected. Among some of the accounts that were allegedly compromised were:
Coin Bureau spoke about the incident on Twitter:
So our YouTube channel was just hacked. Have absolutely no idea how this happened. All accounts are secured with ultra strong passwords and Google security keys. @YouTubeCreators this is a serious problem which other creators are also experiencing. Please fix 🙏
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) January 24, 2022
And also had this to say:
“For everyone’s reference, this was the scam that was run. “One world cryptocurrency”. Unless someone physically had a security key, I don’t know how they got access…”
So it seems that the users had set up security as best as they could. Just as you would expect from experts within the crypto industry. And it looks like a common theme is building up here, with the influencers suggesting that their accounts being hacked might have been an inside job.
Ran NeuNer from Crypto Banter, that was also affected by the hack, spoke out in humour shortly after the incident became public knowledge, saying that the total value the hacker managed to get from victims amounted to under $1000:
The YouTube hacker got less than $1000 🤣Everyone got liquidated this week! pic.twitter.com/xAMmZBKvR7
— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) January 23, 2022
Producer Fred, also from Crypto Banter, posted that the video had been taken down from their account. But he made it a point that warning not to click on any potential phishing links.
The @crypto_banter YouTube channel was hacked with a scam video posted. It has been deleted and the hack is being dealt with. Be careful out there and do not click any phishing links!
— Producer Fred (@producer_fred) January 23, 2022
We hope no one has been affected too badly by this incident. Security in the crypto world is something that is often overlooked. Many simply set up accounts on exchanges with their regular everyday email, and do not use extra security methods like 2FA (Two Step Verification) or use a VPN.
However, it seems that even when you take all the necessary steps to secure your accounts, in this case YouTube accounts, there might always be security flaws and ways in to them. Especially when using a centralised platform. (And don’t we preach day and night about how decentralisation is the way to go?) Stay safe everyone!
