South Korean government’s official Youtube channel was hacked on September 3, 2022. In a report based on statements from representatives from the Seoul administration and Google, the Korean news agency Yonhap revealed that the perpetrators have managed to broadcast a crypto-themed video on the internet.
Earlier on Saturday, Sep 3 at 3.30 a.m., the official channel of the Korean government on YouTube appeared to have been hacked when the channel’s name changed to “SpaceX Invest” and a live broadcast of a cryptocurrency interview took place, which included an interview with SpaceX founder and American billionaire Elon Musk about cryptocurrency. Several hours after becoming aware of the situation, a representative from the culture and tourism ministry, which manages the YouTube account, said it had taken security measures and the account was restored at 7:20 a.m.
It was reported that the ID of the account and password of the account had been stolen, according to the official. According to the Yonhap news agency, Google, the company that owns YouTube, confirmed that the channel had been hacked. A Google Korea official said the company is currently investigating the cause.
The attack follows a hack earlier this week of Korea Tourism Organisation’s YouTube channel. There was an initial attack on Thursday against the channel, which has around 509,000 subscribers, and a second attack the following day, according to KTO. Currently, the channel is not available. It has been reported that Google automatically blocks access to a user’s account if it detects abnormal connections to the account, according to a KTO official.