YouTube crypto accounts fall victim to hack
Over 30 different YouTube accounts were affected
Numerous popular crypto-related YouTube accounts were hacked during the afternoon of 23 January.
The compromised accounts posted unauthorised videos which directed viewers to send money to the hacker’s wallet.
Nine well-known YouTube accounts were hacked, including CoinMarketCap, Floyd Mayweather, Ivan on Tech, Andreas, Ben Armstrong, MMCrypto, Altcoin Buzz, Crypto Banter and Boxmining.
All of the YouTube video hacks were titled “ONE WORLD CRYPTOCURRENCY”, with the token being referred to as OWCY.
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More than 30 accounts affected
In total, more than 30 YouTube accounts were affected by the hack, according to Boxmining. The YouTuber said, “That's some serious problem if we’re all hacked at ONCE”.
Boxmining was able to quickly react to the video and deleted it as it came out on his channel.
Numerous crypto YouTuber accounts that were hacked state they have “2FA enabled”. This refers to two-factor authentication, which means a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism.
One Reddit user said the hacker used a SIM swap scam which was able to circumvent the 2FA protection. SIM swap scams target weaknesses in 2FA defences.
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Livestream banned
Another crypto YouTuber, Richard Heart, was not a victim of the One World cryptocurrency scam, but saw his channel banned in the middle of a livestream.
Heart tweeted saying that, “It might have to do with all of the other YouTubers that were hacked at the same time.” However, Heart’s channel seems to be back up now.
Boxmining did notice that his YouTube account has a login from the Philippines, and so believes it was not a SIM swap scam but rather a YouTube hack or a rogue employee.
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