Main content

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 Â鶹Éç’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)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sat 23 Feb 2019 11:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 22 Feb 2019 21:06GMT
  • Fri 22 Feb 2019 23:06GMT
  • Sat 23 Feb 2019 05:32GMT
  • Sat 23 Feb 2019 11:32GMT

Podcast