Earlier today some artists that are under the Vevo umbrella had their YouTube videos compromised, with many being defaced. Some of the videos had their traditional thumbnail changed to something a bit more sinister, showing a gang holding guns (shown above) that was lifted from the Netflix show Money Heist, while others simply had their descriptions changed with the words "hacked by Prosox and Kuroi ’sh" or "FreePalestine".
Speaking with the BBC, YouTube stated that "After seeing unusual upload activity on a handful of Vevo channels, we worked quickly with our partner to disable access while they investigate the issue." There was a short time where Vevo videos were apparently pulled from the service once the problem was discovered, but now some of the videos appear to be back online, with proper thumbnails and descriptions in place.
Vevo did respond to comment, stating that “Vevo can confirm that a number of videos in its catalogue were subject to a security breach today, which has now been contained.” Vevo further stated that “We are working to reinstate all videos affected and our catalogue to be restored to full working order. We are continuing to investigate the source of the breach.” Vevo has an enormous catalog of artists' videos in its stable and it could take some time to restore them all.
At this time it is not clear how the swap of the videos thumbnails and descriptions were performed, but at least one person involved has claimed that they used a script to gain access, claiming that it was just for fun and to not judge as they love YouTube.
2 Comments - Add comment