The hackers who cracked printers for PewDiePie
We track down the hackers behind a series of attacks which exposed internet security flaws – and helped vlogger PewDiePie keep his top spot on YouTube
Recently, printers around the world started spewing out pages without any direction from their owners. Then a mysterious video showed up on smart TVs.
Both hacks were designed to promote PewDiePie, the most popular vlogger on YouTube, in his battle to maintain subscriber supremacy against popular Indian channel T-Series.
The hackers say they did it to expose the flaws and dangers in some connected devices, but they also got the attention of the YouTube star – as well as the authorities, and trolls who sent them threats.
The ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s cybersecurity correspondent Joe Tidy tracked down the hackers and joins us in the studio to tell us what he found out.
After the pranks make worldwide news, the pair decided to disappear from the internet for fear of reprisals. Do they now regret hacking?
Presenter: Anisa Subedar
Reporter: Joe Tidy
(Photo Caption: YouTuber PewDiePie / Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Fri 22 Feb 2019 21:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa
- Fri 22 Feb 2019 23:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sat 23 Feb 2019 05:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sat 23 Feb 2019 11:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service
Podcast
-
Trending
In-depth reporting on the world of social media