YouTube site, Twitter account may have been hacked
By Carly Regehr
Both YouTube’s homepage and official Twitter account show warning signs of a possible hack.
You’re not the only one experiencing a delay on YouTube this morning. There have been numerous incidents posted on Twitter that YouTube’s down. There’s also the matter that concerns the status of YouTube’s official Twitter account. That, alone, is sufficient enough evidence for YouTube’s tech staff to start panicking.
There’s nothing concrete about when all of this started. According to tweets reporting YouTube’s crash, it could have taken place early in the morning on the East Coast. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to access YouTube on a different browser or on your cellphone – YouTube’s malfunctioning on every platform. In addition to slow uploading times, YouTube surfers can’t leave comments on videos, let alone get a hold of the welcome page.
YouTube’s Twitter page is also being tampered with. As of 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday, YouTube’s bio reads, “lol watch this.” Obviously, that’s not great news for YouTube, a site that sits relatively comfortable on the sideline when it comes to hacks. While we aren’t sure what is going on with YouTube, it should come out in the coming hours.
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Cyber attacks are growing at an exponential rate. Last October, a large company that manages domains was the victim of a sophisticated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. That attack alone made million of its customers wait in anxiety and, of course, cost the company a few dollars.
With many networks facing security vulnerabilities, it gives rise to the question of user protection and privacy. If YouTube was, in fact, hacked, then not only will site traffic be directly affected, but personal information could be as well.