South Korean government’s YouTube channel compromises, hackers promote a crypto scam

On September 3, a group of hackers took control of the South Korean government’s official YouTube account. They then used it to promote a crypto scam scheme featuring the likeness of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also a Dogecoin supporter.

According to the regional report by Yonhap News, the hackers modified the official channel’s name to “SpaceX Invest” to make it appear as if it was associated with Musk’s American aerospace manufacturing and space transportation services company.

Elon Musk discussed about crypto in various videos of interviews that were posted by scammers after the hack. The government, on the other hand, promptly discovered the hack and suspended the account for four hours while they looked for the source of the issue.

The South Korean government is currently working with Google Korea to figure out how the attackers were capable of carrying out their attack, but a representative for the ministry responsible for managing the YouTube account said the government fears that the channel’s ID and password may have been stolen.

Other crypto-related breaches

This is not the only breach the government has experienced this week in the field of crypto; on Thursday, a two-day attack on the Korea Tourism Organization’s (KTO) YouTube channel resulted in the channel’s permanent suspension.

Notably, in December last year, the Twitter account of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hacked. After the breach, the attacker displayed a note sying that the country was going to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, however, the account soon went back to right hands.

Crypto exchanges, government employees, and even Hollywood celebrities like Bill Murray, who is well-known globally for his Ghostbusters role, were all targets of cyberattacks over the last week.

Notably, a group of hackers was able to take $185,000 in ETH from Bill Murray’s private wallet, which also included over 800 NFTs, including collections of CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguin, Cool Cat, and Flower Girls. The money that was stolen was intended to help a 3-year-old girl with intractable epilepsy.