Technology

Hack Alert: YouTube’s Despacito video with over 5 billion views hacked

Written by Aqsa Khunshan ·  55 sec read >

A number of high profile YouTube music videos posted by Vevo have been hacked, including hit song of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee “Despacito”.The “Despacito” song’s YouTube video with over 5 billion views has been removed by hackers and the cover image is showing a group wearing masks and pointing guns, as reported by BBC.

Vevo videos of dozen of other artists including songs from Chris Brown, Shakira, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Drake and Taylor Swift are apparently also affected. The unique clips had been posted by Vevo. All of the affected music videos were uploaded to the artist’s Vevo YouTube accounts, and it’s not clear whether the hackers gained access to individual accounts or if there was a wider exploit with Vevo accounts.

The actual videos remain unchanged. However, the title of many videos had been changed to include the name of hackers but only some had the replaced cover image. The hackers, calling themselves Prosox and Kuroi’sh, had written “Free Palestine” underneath the videos.

Both YouTube and the music video hosting service Vevo have not responded on the matter until now .

A Twitter account that apparently belongs to one of the hackers posted:
“It’s just for fun, I just use [the] script ‘youtube-change-title-video’ and I write ‘hacked’.”
“Don’t judge me I love YouTube,” it added.

Here is a link to the video of “Despacito” song still available on other YouTube channels.

Written by Aqsa Khunshan
I have done Mphil in Biotechnology from Punjab University, Lahore. I love to write about topics that fascinate me; business, startups, health, technology and, women empowerment. I am a foodie, ambivert, and angry anarchist. I have an instinct to learn new things and explore innovative ideas. You can reach out to me at aqsa.khunshan@techjuice.pk Profile