A South Korean government-affiliated YouTube channel was recently compromised by hackers. Once they got control of the channel, the hackers changed the name of the channel to ‘SpaceX Invest’. Soon after, videos of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk discussing cryptocurrency started playing on-loop on the hacked channel. It took four hours for the concerned agencies to restore the breached YouTube channel. However, before that happened, the exploiters tried to promote some cryptocurrencies through the channel.
The channel was affiliated with Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. According to a South Korean news agency YonhapA YouTube Korea official acknowledged and confirmed the incident.
The channel was hacked at 3.30 am on September 3, after the ID and password linked to the page were stolen.
Videos of Musk talking about cryptocurrencies on the page were noticed by the ministry early in the morning, after which the concerned officials were tasked with regaining access to the YouTube channel.
This is not the first time, hackers have tried to lure investors in the sector by breaching government sites.
Just last week, a YouTube account run by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) was hacked. More than 500,000 people were following the channel since it was unavailable since it was recovered.
The crypto sector, which typically maintains a market cap above the trillion-dollar mark, has recently become a hotspot for cybercriminals.
Social networking platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube have become important tools for crypto hackers to stay in touch with potential victims.
YouTube, which is a platform owned by Google, is plagued by phishing and crypto scams, researchers from the search engine giant’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) revealed last year.
An in-depth analysis of the case revealed that the hacked YouTube channels were in the range of $3 (roughly Rs. 225) to $4,000 (roughly Rs. 3 lakh).
In January 2025, hackers took over several YouTube channels of crypto-supporting influencers as well as Indian exchanges such as CoinDCX, WazirX and Unocoin. Hackers posted video instructions asking people to pay in cryptocurrency. Hackers added a wallet link in the description section of the video.
