Hackers Compromised SmartTVs and Chromecast Devices To Promote PewDiePie YouTube Channel

Hackers hijacked thousands of publically available Chromecast/SmartTV/GoogleHome devices to remotely play video on the users device and urge users to subscribe for the channel.

The hacking campaign dubbed CastHack run by two hackers with online name HackerGiraffe and j3ws3r. The attack infected more than 3,000 TVs and forced to show PewDiePie message.

The attack targets the misconfigured routers that have UPnP service enabled and forwarding network traffic over ports 8008/8443/8009, these ports are used by the smart devices to connect with the Internet.

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“If you came here because you’re a victim of #CastHack, then know that your Chromecast/SmartTV/GoogleHome is exposed to the public internet, and is leaking sensitive information related to your device and home,” HackerGiraffe/j3ws3r reads the page that stats page.

According to their initial Shodan scan, they found 123,141 exposed devices, the hackers set up a script that checks the IP is associated with, Google Home, SmartTV, or Chromecast devices then it renames the devices HACKED_SUBTOPEWDS and attempts to run a Youtube video.

HackerGiraffe said the best way to fix by disabling the UPnP on the router and to disable port forwarding with 8008/8443/8009.

A Google Spokesperson said the users need to fix the issue by modifying the router settings and this is not an issue with Chromecast specifically.

The hacker duo is harmless “We just want to have a bit of fun while educating and protecting people from open devices like this case. Also, subscribe to PewDiePie on YouTube!”

They warned that if the vulnerability exploited by a malicious hacker they can remotely play media on your device, rename your device, factory reset or reboot the device, force it to forget all wifi networks, force it to pair to a new Bluetooth speaker/wifi point, and so on.

The hackers already launched multiple campaigns last month, they hacked thousand of the printers worldwide to promote PewDiePie. In the second campaign 100,000 Printers Hacked Worldwide to promote PewDiePie YouTube Channel.

PewDiePie is the leader of the most subscribed youtube channel for more than a year now and an another Youtube channel from India called “T-Series” close to gain more number of subscribers than PewDiePie.

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