Just five days ago, Luis Fonsi’s viral Despacito music video earned the title of world’s most watched video on YouTube with more than 5 billion views. Apparently, YouTube hackers managed to delete the video, along with other Vevo clips.
However, as per the latest development, the deleted videos have been restored on the website. Earlier, after the hack, Despacito video showed a thumbnail with masked people holding guns. After clicking the video, it said: “This video is unavailable.”
While the content of the videos was unaltered, the hackers managed to replace the still photo that accompanies unplayed YouTube videos with a photo of people in masks pointing guns at the camera (according to The Verge, the still is from the Spanish-language show, La Casa de Papel). Titles to videos were changed to messages like “Hacked by Kuroi’SH & Prosox,” while the descriptions of some were altered to read, “Free Palestine.”
The content of many videos remained unchanged but some of them featured changed titles and thumbnails.
The other artists and their channels that were targeted in this YouTube hack are:
- Adele (AdeleVEVO)
- Selena Gomez (SelenaGomezVEVO)
- Kaaris (KaarisOfficialVEVO)
- Lacrim (LacrimMusicVEVO)
- Chris Brown (ChrisBrownVEVO)
- Luis Fonsi (LuisFonsiVEVO)
- Shakira (ShakiraVEVO)
- Post Malone (PostMaloneVEVO)
- Taylor Swift (TaylorSwiftVEVO)
- Vevo (Vevo)
- Katy Perry
- Maître Gims (MaitreGimsVEVO)
Vevo, which hosts videos on YouTube and its own website, released a statement to The Verge, saying, “Vevo can confirm that a number of videos in its catalog were subject to a security breach today, which has now been contained. We are working to reinstate all videos affected and our catalog to be restored to full working order. We are continuing to investigate the source of the breach.”
(Excerpts) Read More at: RollingStone.com and FossBytes.com