XRP Hackers Take Over Top South Korean Drama Channels

Ripple South Korea

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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Last updated: 

July 21, 2024

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South Korean drama viewers were sent into confusion on July 20 and July 21 after XRP hackers seized control of two top YouTube channels.

The attack centered on the tvN Drama and TVING channels. The former has over 7.11 million subscribers and airs content related to the television network tvN’s popular dramas.

XRP Hackers Strike, K-Drama Viewers Confused

TVING, meanwhile, has over 985,000 subscribers and also hosts popular South Korean drama and reality TV show content.

Both are owned by the South Korean conglomerate CJ. The business group is active in the food, media, music, entertainment, and pharmaceutical sectors.

During the attack, hackers appear to have seized control of both channels. They replaced channel logos, banners, and descriptions with Ripple logos.

The hackers also successfully changed the appearance of channel handles to XRP- and Ripple-related titles.

They then began airing Ripple and XRP-themed videos using YouTube’s streaming functions.

TVING said on July 20 that it was “aware” that its channel had been “hacked” and was “taking steps to resolve the issue with YouTube.”

TV Network Issues Warning

The TV network said it would “do” its “best to quickly restore the channel.” And it added:

“Please be careful not to click on posts containing suspicious-looking videos or links. We ask [subscribers] to take special care to prevent any damage.”

The issues continued to dog the channels on Sunday, July 21. At around UTC 10:00 am, tvN’s channel appeared to have been purged of all Ripple-related videos.

However, on some YouTube Pages, its handle was yet to be restored, and its image remained that of a Ripple logo.

Later the same day, the handle was restored, but the blue Ripple logo remained in place.

Everything IS Back to Normal, Says K-Drama Channel Operator

In a tvN Drama community post, the network explained:

“In the early morning of Saturday, July 20, 2024, an incident occurred on the tvN DRAMA YouTube channel. The channel name was changed, and unrelated content was uploaded following an external hacking attack.”

The network said that following “cooperation with YouTube,” all of its channel operations had “been normalized.”

South Korean internet users began complaining of issues at around 4 am on Saturday, July 20, with some writing that they were unable to watch tvN Drama and TVING videos. Others noted that “strange videos” were “appearing” in their feeds.

XRP enjoys enormous popularity in South Korea. The coin’s daily trading volumes often outstrip that of tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) and USDT on major domestic crypto exchanges.