UPDATED 21:49 EDT / JANUARY 02 2019

SECURITY

Chromecasts, smart TVs targeted in latest PewDiePie promotion hack

The same person behind the hack of printers in December to support YouTube star PewDiePie is back again.

The hacker claims to have hacked Chromecasts, smart televisions and Google Home devices. Going by the name of TheHackerGiraffe on Twitter, the hacker used a “CastHack” that took advantage of users who use incorrectly configured routers that have the Universal Plug ‘n’ Play service enabled.

According to ZDNet, the hacker targeted ports that were exposed to the internet but are usually used by smart TVs, Chromecasts and Google Home for internal management purposes.

Those targeted by the hack were presented with a message that stated “your Chromecast/smart TV is exposed to the public internet and is exposing sensitive information about you!” and “you should also subscribe to PewDiePie.”

The hack also includes a link for users to secure their devices from hacking but actually leads to a YouTube video of Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

“To restrict the ability for external videos to be played on their devices, users can turn off Universal Plug and Play (UPnP),” a spokesperson from Google told Variety. “Please note that turning off UPnP may disable some devices (e.g. printers, game consoles, etc.) that depend on it for local device discovery.”

The exploit used in the attack is not a new one. Security firm Bishopfox first detailing a hack that utilized the same method in 2014.

Whether the previous printer hacks, as well as this new hack, have assisted PewDiePie in his subscription battle against Indian music channel T-Series in unknown. As of tonight, PewDiePie had 79.5 million subscribers, according to a live stream from Social Blade, a clear 1 million subscribers more than rival T-Series.

Image: TheHackerGiraffe

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU