SC Temporarily Takes Down YouTube Account After Hackers Access It For Crypto Promotion

In a major data breach, the Supreme Court’s official YouTube channel was hacked today (September 20), with the account displaying videos that promoted a cryptocurrency developed by US-based company Ripple Labs.

The hackers replaced the channel’s original videos with promotional material, including a live video titled ‘Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC’s $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION’, referring to the CEO of Ripple Labs. 

Following this, the apex court issued a notice on its website, saying, “This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India has been taken down. The services on the YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India will be resumed shortly.”

The development comes amid the live proceedings of several cases like RG Kar Medical College and NEET on the Supreme Court’s YouTube channel.

More importantly, the previous hearing archives were also made private by the hackers, according to Bar and Bench. 

However, the apex court’s IT team had taken it up with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Indian Express reported. 

At present the channel’s link has been disabled and SC’s channel on YouTube is also not visible. 

Earlier Senior Advocate Kapil Sibbal appearing for the West Bengal government in the RG Kar Case asked for the stopping of live proceedings in the case alleging that female lawyers were facing threats of acid attacks and rapes. 

However, the top court rejected this saying that the case was a matter of public interest and the public must know what is transpiring in the courtroom.

It is pertinent to note that the top court has been live-streaming hearings in cases presided over by a Constitution Bench since September 2022.

This breach is the latest addition to the common trend of scammers hacking popular YouTube channels and websites in recent times. 

Last year, cybercriminals targeted the YouTube channels of high profile individuals like Elon Musk and Donald Trump to promote cryptocurrency scams.

In November, All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS) Delhi incurred a ransomware attack. 

According to a report by security SaaS firm Indusface, the Cyberattacks on Indian websites surged 261% year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter (Q1) of calendar year 2024 (CY24).

India took the top spot on the list of 95 countries that witnessed the most DDoS (distributed denial of service) and bot attacks. In contrast, cyberattacks globally rose 76% YoY during the period.