My Channel Was Deleted Last Night

Summary by Krater

Linus Sebastian discusses how Linus Tech Tips and related channels were recently hacked via session hijacking using malware downloaded from a fake sponsorship offer, detailing the attack, how attackers bypassed 2FA, and the internal changes being made.

From the video

Answers: How did the Linus Tech Tips channel get hacked and how can creators protect themselves?

• Channel hacking and session hijacking
• Malware in fake sponsorship emails
• Flaws in two-factor authentication security
• Session tokens and browser persistence
• Google Workspace access controls and channel management

What it concludes

• Session tokens bypass password and 2FA requirements by persisting browser login state.
• Notification-based multi-factor authentication is susceptible to fatigue attacks.
• Email attachments with file extensions should always be double-checked and unexpected behavior should raise red flags.
• Google Workspace lacks internal team communication permissions and needs greater security options for channel attributes.
• Google should implement additional authentication prompts when performing bulk actions like deleting videos.