🚨Cybersecurity Alert🚨: Even 2FA Can’t Always Save You!🔓

This morning, Linus Tech Tips, the leading tech-oriented YouTube channel with almost 20 million subscribers, got hacked!😱

His channel was renamed and used as a crypto scam, playing an Elon Musk interview and offering a fake giveaway. Scammers promised to double every Bitcoin sent.💸

You may think no one would be so gullible, but considering the video was played from a channel called “Tesla” with over 15M subscribers, many people got cheated. 😓

Especially since Linus’ channel wasn’t the only one hacked that night.🌃

In the blink of an eye, he almost lost his entire business. Hackers removed all his uploaded videos – years of hard work simply evaporated within minutes.⌛

This is a chilling reminder that even 2-factor authentication (2FA) can’t guarantee your safety in the digital world. One slip-up can wreak havoc on your entire business!💼

So how did it happen? 🤔

“Keep me signed in/logged in” – I bet you know this option, right? ✅

This feature saves a tiny key (a session key) in your browser, assuming that only you have access to your computer. However, if anyone gets access to this file, they can copy it to their computer and gain access to your services.🔑

Imagine if I could magically run your web browser on my computer. Every single page you access without needing to log in (LinkedIn, Gmail, Facebook) could be accessed by me too. 😨

And this is what happened to Linus – one of his employees who had access to the YouTube account opened a scam email with an attachment that looked like a PDF invoice. In fact, it was a tiny virus that gave attackers access to his browser and all services.📧🦠

As a result, although hackers didn’t know the password, they gained total access. Furthermore, even when Linus changed the password, hackers still had access to the account!😖

There are a few lessons we all can learn from this situation:
• If you don’t use 2FA, now’s the time!🕒
• The fact that you use 2FA makes it harder, but not impossible to hack you.🔒
• Teach your staff how to stay secure! Anyone in your company can be a target of attack.🎯
• Don’t use auto-login for important services. I know it’s handy, but is it really worth it?🤷‍♂️

And there are a few lessons for YouTube, as these scams become more frequent. I would expect that if someone wants to remove ALL uploaded videos, YouTube could at least ask to provide the password again OR accept consent from X users.🎥

Fortunately, Linus, in cooperation with YouTube, regained his lost channel, but many smaller channels didn’t receive this kind of “mercy” from YouTube.🙁

Don’t let this be you! 🚫 Stay vigilant, invest in cybersecurity, and always be prepared for the unexpected.🔐💪

Share your thoughts on this incident and how you plan to stay secure in the comments below!👇