First it was printers, now it’s Chromecasts.
Two hackers have teamed up to promote PewDiePie again, and raise awareness about vulnerable devices by forcing TVs to display a message encouraging people to subscribe to his YouTube channel. The hack takes advantage of a router setting that makes smart devices, like Chromecasts and Google Homes, publicly viewable on the internet.
The attack, which is being referred to as #CastHack, is being conducted by two hackers, @HackerGiraffe and @j3ws3r. A website dedicated to the attack claims to count the number of TVs exposed the the hack and currently says more than 72,000 devices have been affected.
This is the second time that HackerGiraffe and j3ws3r have teamed up to promote PewDiePie in a questionable way, and both said they were behind a hack in November that forced printers around the world to print out sheets of paper telling people to subscribe to PewDiePie.
Although these two hackers are often portrayed bad by media outlets, their hearts are in the right place. They could easily use their talents for malicious intent, but instead they inform people about their vulnerable devices – in a questionable way – but there is no harm meant by the hacks. The duo deserve more praise than criticism and they have probably prevented hundreds of people from ever being hacked in the same way ever again.
