Hackers hijack thousand of Google Chromecasts to promote PewDiePie

Hackers have hijack thousand of Google Chromecasts to promote PewDiePie

 

Felix Kjellberg who was known as PewDiePie , his position as the YouTuber with the most subscribers have caused many internet users, And he currently has the most subscribers in the world, with more than 79,859,500+ loyal fans who want him to stay in the top position.

PewDiePie, the currently most-subscribed-to channel on YouTube, is at stake of losing his position as the number one position by an Indian company called T-Series with more than 78,852,500+ Subscriber, with simply uploads videos of Bollywood trailers and songs.”

  • A group of hackers hijacked as many as 5,000 smart TVs and Chromecast devices worldwide, forcing them to play a video in support of YouTube star Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg.
  • The hacking incident is the third since late November to promote PewDiePie, following cyber attacks on The Wall Street Journal and more than 100,000 printers.
  • The hackers claim the primary goal of the hack is to make people aware of security flaws in their technology.
  • PewDiePie has not claimed involvement, but has joked about the hacks on Twitter as they are reported

A group of hackers has hijacked tens of thousands of Google’s Chromecast streaming dongles, Google Home smart speakers and smart TVs with built-in Chromecast technology in previous weeks by exploiting a bug that’s allegedly been ignored by Google for almost five years.

  The attackers, who go by Twitter handles @HackerGiraffe and @j3ws3r, managed to hijack Chromecasts’ feeds and display a pop-up, spreading a security warning as well as controversial YouTube star PewDiePie propaganda.

 Interestingly, Google was made aware of the Chromecast bug multiple times since 2014 shortly after the streaming device was launched and also acknowledged the hack, but the company has decided to ignore the issue 

Hackers hijack thousand of Google Chromecasts to promote PewDiePie

Moreover, an attacker can also remotely force affected devices into playing media of their choice, rename devices, force factory reset or reboot the device, force it to forget all WiFi networks, or force the affected device to pair with new networks.

UPnP comes enabled by default on every internet-connected device, creating a hole in your router’s security that could allow malware to infiltrate any part of your local network. Hackers have compromised UPnP several times in the past.

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