Sesame Street's YouTube channel hacked, replaced with porn - Sophos comments

Press release

Published October 17th, 2011 - 11:47 GMT

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos

Sesame Street's YouTube channel, a highly popular page containing videos of the muppets including Kermit the frog, and Big Bird, was hacked on Sunday and the child friendly content was replaced with something far less savoury: hard core porn movies. The offensive content was available for approximately 20 minutes, before the channel was suspended for "repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines."

Aside from uploading pornographic videos, the hackers also changed the Sesame Street channel profile on YouTube:

WHO DOESN'T LOVE PORN KIDS? RIGHT! EVERYONE LOVES IT! IM MREDXWX AND MY PARTNER MRSUICIDER91 ARE HERE TO BRING YOU MANY NICE CONTENT! PLEASE DON'T LET SESAME STREET TO GET THIS ACCOUNT BACK KIDS :( PLEASE...LET ME AND MRSUICIDER91 HAVE IT AND WE GONNA MAKE ALL THE AMERICA HAPPY!

"Mr Edxwx" has uploaded a video denying any involvement in the hack.

"The truth of the matter is that the channel is regularly visited by young children, and parents trust that the page will be safe for them to view," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"Attacks like this prove that websites, with particularly vulnerable audiences, need to be monitored regularly and protected with the highest possible security controls. In addition, parents need to be extra vigilant about keeping an eye on the websites their children are visiting - and remember that even the seemingly most innocent websites can be compromised."

Background Information

Sophos

IT security products have become as complex as the networks they’re trying to secure. At Sophos we know that the solution to complexity is not more complexity. We tackle security challenges with clarity and confidence, knowing that simple security is better security.

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