Microsoft’s YouTube channel hacked and defaced

By Tom Warren, on 23rd Oct 11 5:05 pm with 48 Comments

Microsoft YouTube hack

Microsoft’s official YouTube channel appears to have been hacked and defaced.

The software giant’s YouTube channel includes just three videos after the pranksters removed all of Microsoft’s historical videos. The three videos that remain appear to be related to Subway sponsorship. GeekWire reports that the channel take over may have been the result of an accident. The prankster left the message ““I DID NOTHING WRONG I SIMPLY SIGNED INTO MY ACCOUNT THAT I MADE IN 2006 :/,” indicating that the account may have been swapped due to a bizarre bug with YouTube’s systems. The software makers YouTube account has been active since 2006 and included over 8 million video views.

Microsoft’s YouTube channel hack comes just a week after Sesame Street’s YouTube channel was also defaced. The channel was replaced with graphic pornography and all videos were removed. Google was able to restore the channel to its original state.

Microsoft and Google have not issued statements at the time of writing.

Update: Microsoft has now confirmed it has regained control of the YouTube account. ““We have regained control of the Microsoft channel on YouTube, and we are working to restore all of the original content.  We will continue to work with YouTube to ensure safeguards are in place for the future,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.

  • http://twitter.com/hoyoungw Hoyoung Won

    it waa google! “i just signed into an account i made in 2006″ since YOUTUBE did make the account they fucking hacked it! FUCK U GOOGLEEEEE

  • http://www.windowsobserver.com/ WinObs

    If the individual signed in with their account and accidentally gained access why delete everything?  That is diliberate not accidental.

    • http://www.flavors.me/fludlyt Fludlyt

      Agreed, that wasn’t necessary. I hope they can somehow recover the deleted videos and view stats. 

    • Guest

      Google would have backups.

    • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

      Don’t count on it. I guess you weren’t affected by the last Gmail GFail.

    • https://profiles.google.com/christopher.gull/ CG

      It’s all back already, just so you guys know.
      http://www.youtube.com/user/Microsoft

    • Guest

      @ Tim

      Appears I was right. And no, I wasn’t affected by the Gmail Gfail. I have a Gmail account but never actually use it. Frankly, I fkn hate threaded view for messages. But others love it. So each to his own.

    • http://twitter.com/ParkerReno Parker Ciambrone

      They can, funny thing is a similar thing happened to the sesame street youtube very recently

  • http://twitter.com/kid_jenius Daniel Paulino

    how much did you pay this hacker google? 12 billion? damit stop whining

    • King Cobra

      Are you stupid? Youtube is handled by google. so they dont need a hacker if they want to do tht ! .. 

    • Anonymous

      I really don’t know what to say. I am no MS fan. I see here regularly that MS fans/supporters (no, there’s nothing wrong in supporting a company or a product, so chill) deride Google. If this is the case, why would you actually want to use any Google product. FACT is there is nothing in MS’s portfolio that can rival Google’s Youtube. If MS is so great and all, why they are using Youtube in the first place? Let them make their own version of “u-tube” be done with Google. Remember it’s Google’s product. They don’t need a hacker to burn a hole inside that. They can remove those anytime they want. 

    • Anonymous

      Yes Youtube is great and rules the world as a video repository. But why must MSFT be #1 in everything? Even Apple has no Youtube replacement and they’re #1 in market cap. 

  • Anonymous

    Ohhhh! A video made with Apple Keynote!

  • Martin Stevens

    Conspiracy theories ftw! lol

    • OctalMan

      haha I actually think this is Google’s way of revenging the Google Chrome being detected as a spybot by MSE incident.

  • Iamsickofspam

    sometimes I just hate people.

  • http://voguishtech.com Wemberg Carlo Estil

    i Blame Google!

  • http://roshanjoshi.com.np Roshan

    another major hack on same week? the YouTube login & security must be a joke.

    • Anonymous

      What makes you think it wasn’t a paid Google hack? They could easily have arranged it through multiple 3rd parties to leave no paper trail back to the Googleplex.

    • Guest

      Your tinfoil hat it too tight again.

  • Anonymous

    Screw Microsoft.

    Occupy Microsoft.

    We are the 99%.

    Resistance is futile.

    • Anonymous

      go troll in wall street and stop breathing our air.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t know what you are 99% of, but you are definitely 100% jackass.

  • Anonymous

    Not the best thing to do Google! MSE detected your chrome as a bot because it was showing some unusual behaviors…too much of a revenge!

    • OctalMan

      Exactly what I was thinking..If this is Google’s work, shame on them.

  • Umang Kedia

    The user name of hacker seems to be antonj3000
    When I posted the link of video from Microsoft.. his channel name appeared

    • Guest

      Judging by his site, he seems pretty immature. There are also a lot of gamer references to that id. Anyway, deleting the videos was really stupid. Google should ban him for that stunt.

  • Adam Shaw

    The videos could have been deleted as part of the bug.
    Plausible?

  • OctalMan

    It’s time for Microsoft to make their own Youtube :D

    • Guest

      They tried and failed.

    • OctalMan

      I didn’t know they already tried…oh well

    • Anonymous

      MSN Video or something… pretty bad…  there is also MetaCafe, same as google, but they do allow 18+ videos :)

    • Guest
    • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

      Why? Google didn’t. Google purchased YouTube some time ago, and still haven’t worked out how to make a profit from such a popular website. If you look beyond the hype, Google is still dining out on search, and all they’ve done since is acquire and imitate rather than innovate. 

      See also MSN Video, SkyDrive video, etc.
      ;)

  • Anonymous

    They should sue Google for this. It’s big and might affect a lot..

    • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

      Google is Microsoft’s commercial rival. Privately, at best they probably think this is funny.

  • http://www.timacheson.com/ Tim Acheson

    Microsoft suffers because of Google’s security flaws. Ironic. It happens on Gmail, YouTube, Apps/Docs, but is only big news when Microsoft is affected.

  • Anonymous

    This is a Google insider job as revenge for all the Android patent deals MSFT has signed. This was an order straight from the top.

  • Anonymous

    Microsoft says in a statement, “We are aware that someone has altered the YouTube channel devoted to Microsoft videos.  We are working with YouTube to rectify the situation.”nothing yet from Google :(

  • J A

    Being a Google product/service, this is not surprising at all; all ther services are hacked everyday. I wonder why people don’t think and still use Google’s services for anything.

  • Alvaro

    Why Microsoft need an YouTube channel?

  • Scubadog

    I just would like to see life imprisonment for hackers.  That’s what they deserve.  There’s nothing anyone can say to convince me that harshest possible punishment should be thrown at these idiots.  And there’s not a hacker alive that can justify their criminal behavior.  Period.

    • Anonymous

      That’s cute

  • Scubadog

    Correction, “shouldn’t be thrown”.

  • Gzproger

    Isn’t this Goooogle’s fault?

  • http://www.howmakemoneyyoutube.com Gary Travers

    Like eveyone else, I’m surprised that YouTube is so buggy. Would have though a giant like google would have more security in place?

  • notePAD

    Tit4Tat is a fair game, lol!
    MSE deletes Chrome browser by “mistake”, and woopsi, MSYt channel hacked by “mistake”. A coincidence?!?!

  • Wikizm

    Born in France, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer inherited the luxury brand company Chanel, which was co-founded by their grandfather Pierre.Pierre Wertheimer (January 8, 1888 – April 24, 1965) was a French businessman.In October 1910, Pierre Wertheimer married Germaine Revel, a daughter of a stockbroker and a member of the Lazard family of investment bankers.In 1924,http://wikizionism.blogspot.com/2011/10/alain-and-gerard-wertheimer-21th-jewish.html