Hackers recently took advantage of a South Korean government YouTube channel. Once they gained access to the channel's controls, the hackers changed the channel's name to "SpaceX Invest." Soon after, footage of Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, talking about cryptocurrency started playing continuously on the hacked channel. The affected agencies took four hours to restore the compromised YouTube channel. However, the exploiters first attempted to advertise some cryptocurrency via the channel in order to prevent that from happening.
The channel had ties to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Korea. According to Yonhap, a South Korean news source, a YouTube Korea official has acknowledged and confirmed the occurrence.
The ID and password associated with this page were stolen, which prompted the hack attack that targeted this channel at roughly 3:30 AM on September 3.
The government discovered the films of Musk promoting cryptocurrencies on this page early in the morning, and after that, concerned personnel were given the responsibility of regaining access to this YouTube channel.
Hackers have already used compromised government websites to entice investors into the sector.
A YouTube account managed by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) was compromised just last week. Since it was found, the channel, which had over 500,000 subscribers, has been down.
Cybercriminals have recently turned their attention to the cryptocurrency industry, which often keeps its market valuation over the trillion-dollar threshold.
Social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube have developed into crucial tools for cryptocurrency hackers to connect with potential victims.
According to specialists from Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), which is part of the search engine behemoth, YouTube is rife with phishing and cryptocurrency frauds.
Further investigation into the situation has shown that hijacked YouTube channels were trading for between $3 (about Rs. 225) and $4,000 per (roughly Rs. 3 lakh).
Hackers seized control of various cryptocurrency-supporting influencers' YouTube accounts in January 2025, as well as Indian exchanges like CoinDCX, WazirX, and Unocoin. The hackers requested that users wire them cryptocurrency in the form of video instructions. The hackers changed the video's description to include a link to a wallet.
