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Twitter User Hacks 50,000 Printers To Tell People To Subscribe To a YouTube Channel (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A Twitter user using the pseudonym of @TheHackerGiraffe has hacked over 50,000 printers to print out flyers telling people to subscribe to PewDiePie's YouTube channel. The message the printers received was a simple one. It urged people to subscribe to PewDiePie's YouTube channel in order for PewDiePie -- a famous YouTuber from Sweden, real name Felix Kjellberg -- to keep the crown of most subscribed to YouTube channel.

If this sounds ...odd... it's because over the past month, an Indian record label called T-Series has caught up andsurpassed PewDiePie, once considered untouchable in terms of YouTube followers. The Swedish Youtube star made a comeback after his fans banded together in various social media campaigns, but T-Series is catching up with PewDiePie again.

94 comments

  1. Printers today, IoT tomorrow by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can't "wait" for the inevitable day when Internet of Things devices get mass hacked. Can we start calling them: Insecure of Things or "Insecure on 'Tubes" instead ? :/

    1. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean "when"? They already have been being mass hacked. Have you not heard about the Mirai botnet?

    2. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by chispito · · Score: 1

      Can't "wait" for the inevitable day when Internet of Things devices get mass hacked.

      You don't read the news much, do you?

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    3. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At first, I thought this was about creimer's youtube channel since he desperately need subscribers.

      Then, I did a double-take and realized that creimer doesn't have the ability to pull this out.

      At some point, I was convinced that creimer was running a click-bot against his own youtube channel but I came to know that montreal guy was running the click-bot to prank him.

    4. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Ah, missed that.

    5. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by mermeid007 · · Score: 1

      Thank you - I did too

    6. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... KGB puppet Putin ...

      You should learn the difference between puppet and puppet-master.

    7. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Can't "wait" for the inevitable day when Internet of Things devices get mass hacked.

      It's already happened many times over.

      Can we start calling them: Insecure of Things or "Insecure on 'Tubes" instead ? :/

      Get with it, grandpa! It's called the Internet of Shit. ;)

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    8. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Can't "wait" for the inevitable day when Internet of Things devices get mass hacked.

      That day is here. Mostly they are used in botnets, fwiw.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    9. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      You mean the FSB puppiet Putin I guess, the KGB dies noe exsist any more. I have no problem with you blsming russian inteligence but at least refer to them by a nsme that is not 23 years out of date. And no I’m not affiliated with them or ibdeed any russian organisation (as far as I know). Have a nice day

    10. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... KGB puppet Putin ...

      You should learn the difference between puppet and puppet-master.

      and sock puppet...

    11. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Subscriber count is a vanity metric. You need 1,000 subscribers and 4K hours of watch time to get ad revenues, 10,000 subscribers to unlock advanced features, and 100K/1M/10M subscribers to get a silver/gold/diamond play button. Pewdiepie has 60M+ subscribers but only a small fraction watch his videos on a regular basis.

    12. Re:Printers today, IoT tomorrow by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I think you may have missed a lot. Not only have we had mass hacked IoT devices causing issues (recently an attack on DNS root servers was brought to you by Chinese internet connected webcams) but we've even had whitehat hackers hacking IoT devices to force them to apply updates to make them more secure, and grey hats hacking the devices to brick them so they stop polluting the web.

      I think we covered both here on Slashdot but I'm on time constraints so I'll leave the searching to you :-)

    13. Re: Printers today, IoT tomorrow by houghi · · Score: 1

      I have a Raspberry Pi. It has Linux. I am safe.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    14. Re: Printers today, IoT tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't start anything. You are a fat slob who people make fun of.

  2. Add this to the list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    of things I care nothing about

    1. Re:Add this to the list by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      of things I care nothing about

      ... until all the gadgets around your house are singing/displaying/printing adverts and shit.

    2. Re: Add this to the list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I seriously doubt it was that many printers. People are too busy with their lives to be connecting their printers to YouTube so particularly

    3. Re: Add this to the list by orlanz · · Score: 1

      Careful, you might not have paper left to print that list.

    4. Re:Add this to the list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      of things I care nothing about

      ... until all the gadgets around your house are singing/displaying/printing adverts and shit.

      Fairly certain he was saying that he doesn't have all those stupid gadgets in his house.

      I would argue that the real problem is when they are used to amplify attacks and take down things he does care about. Assuming he cares about something on the internet.

    5. Re:Add this to the list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well at least it explains where that stupid meme being repeated on one channel yesterday came from. Hopefully it dies just as quickly as it arrived.

  3. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I weep for humanity.

    1. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Me too. What a wasted opportunity. Should have been printing tits and ass instead!

    2. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Print goatse, tubgirl or lemon party. Such a missed opportunity

    3. Re: Wow by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      Print Trump/Hillary (depending on your inclinations) toilet paper until the feed bin is empty. After all, it's not your paper that's being wasted.

    4. Re: Wow by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Print solid black sheets until the ink is empty.

    5. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chan pranks from 2007

    6. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like from that fake Anarchist's Cookbook from the 80's.

    7. Re: Wow by crypticedge · · Score: 1

      This predates 4chan by a long time.

    8. Re: Wow by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Fake Anarchist? You mean, like one that doesn't actually have a real membership?

    9. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, what he meant was the one that actually has a real membership.

  4. Mass delusion by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 1

    People should drop the delusion that they're not easily controllable. The fact that it worked shows most people will just follow orders.

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. So, what are you in for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    > I hacked printers to pimp a Youtube channel.

    If that doesn't make you someone's bitch I don't know what will.

  7. Like the good old days by AndyKron · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Kind of like the good old days when you come into work and find a pile of FAX paper on the floor. Grrrrrr!

    1. Re:Like the good old days by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

      I had the same thought. Fax spam was a pain. We had a central fax machine, and someone got info on everyone in the company. They would send individual faxes to everyone, all to the same fax machine, always from a different number. About once a week or so we would come into this pile of faxes. We had to move to a digital fax server to stop it.

    2. Re:Like the good old days by LesFerg · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm out of paper, could you fax me some more?

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    3. Re:Like the good old days by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm out of paper, could you fax me some more?

      I managed to feed the paper in but the machine broke when I tried to feed the shipping box through. It made that same funny cluking sound as it did when I tried to fax that floppy last week.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  8. Some "hack" by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only condition was that the printer was connected to the Internet, used old firmware, and had "printing" ports left exposed online.

    The hack relies on using automated scripts to send print messages to printers that have IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) ports, LPD (Line Printer Daemon) ports, and port 9100 left open over the Internet.

    So in other words... he printed to printers.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Some "hack" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Considering how many of the people in my office can't print to the printer that's been specifically set up for them, it probably sounds like arcane wizardry to most people.

    2. Re:Some "hack" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +5 Funny

      Oh, I am an AC... Sorry :(

    3. Re:Some "hack" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yup. totally not a hack..

      public-facing hardware with no password or other authentication mechanism and using standard, published protocols in its operation.

      basically a fax machine. all you need is the 'phone number' to print to it.

      BUT. because it's "computer" hardware and it happened on the "internet" and not strictly over POTS... it's not sending a junk fax 50,000 times, which wouldn't even register on the radar at any of the TLAs that might investigate such a thing; instead, it's "unauthorized access to computer system and network" (and other related, made-up and/or exaggerated, charges)... 50,000 times.

    4. Re:Some "hack" by coofercat · · Score: 1

      It's amazing this stuff makes slashdot, especially in it's 'unfiltered' form. TFS is awful, exactly as you point out. The further 'enragement' is that the hacker used Twitter. Shocking indeed. If we ever find out he used blockchain, we could see a financial meltdown to rival the time when some coins fell through a hole in my pocket.

    5. Re:Some "hack" by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      The only condition was that the printer was connected to the Internet, used old firmware, and had "printing" ports left exposed online.

      So in other words... he printed to printers.

      Not just that, but the firmware doesn't even have to be old. There's newer printers with LPD support. Naturally, you should disable it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Some "hack" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I can usually find the right printer, but getting the printout right the first time is pretty hit and miss. You have a 50/50 chance with portrait A4 document, but anything else will probably need several attempts to get the right paper size, orientation, scaling, page selection and collation.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Some "hack" by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

      The only condition was that the printer was connected to the Internet, used old firmware, and had "printing" ports left exposed online.

      So in other words... he printed to printers.

      Not just that, but the firmware doesn't even have to be old. There's newer printers with LPD support. Naturally, you should disable it.

      That doesn't follow. LPD is a perfectly cromulent printing protocol. What you should do is the same as for all other services on your LAN -- firewall them off from the outside world.

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    8. Re:Some "hack" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Well, please let me rephrase that. If you're not using it, you should disable it. What if someone/thing gets loose inside your network?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. Huh? by quonset · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Who or what is a PewDiePie and why should I care? Never heard of him/it so it can't be important.

    1. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you shouldn't care. If it wasn't for a previous story on Slashdot I would not have heard of him either. When they say famous I think they mean famous within a small group that for them youtube is their life.

    2. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fair enough, but I am sure you heard of creimer, the renowned youtuber, author and slashdot collaborator!

    3. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just subscribed to T-series because maybe they can make this PewDiePie thing go away.

    4. Re:Huh? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

      There's a whole generation for whom YouTube stars are who they look up to. It's frightening.

    5. Re:Huh? by TheReaperD · · Score: 2

      Not any worse than football/basketball stars and movie stars. All have about the same track record of being ahem "quality" role models for out children. Since we idolize them instead of doctors, scientists, etc., the race for the first to spin down the drain picks up pace.

      --
      "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
    6. Re:Huh? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      He do have 70 million subscribers.
      More than that know about his existence.
      If 100+ million people know who you are how isn't that famous?
      Maybe not Michael Jackson famous but still pretty famous.

    7. Re:Huh? by Patent+Lover · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but even football/basketball stars don't constantly have a window at the bottom of their games wearing headphones and narrating the stupid shit you're watching.

    8. Re:Huh? by Powercntrl · · Score: 2

      Maybe not Michael Jackson famous but still pretty famous.

      He's famous for being famous. Michael Jackson was famous for his musical abilities, and later for his alleged inappropriate interests/conduct with children.

      If PewDiePie wants to keep his #1 spot, maybe he should consider fondling a few kids. Anything for the fans, right?

      --

      ---
      DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    9. Re: Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should care because he's the greatest thing since Justin Beiber. And if you didn't like Justin Beiber then your a hater... Nazi alt-right!

    10. Re: Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You India you lose!

    11. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are south park episodes about both.

    12. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, they hire somebody else to narrate that for them. You are aware of the existence of sports broadcasters, right? John Maddens sports career has been far eclipsed by his broadcast career.

    13. Re:Huh? by cashman73 · · Score: 1

      Football/basketball stars also have this thing called,. . . ahem,. . . talent.

    14. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whats that? The ability to throw and catch a ball? I really don't see how that's more impressive than the ability to push buttons really fast.

      Yes, the stuff you like is just as dumb as the stuff other people like. You only think it's more impressive because it's stuff you like.

    15. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He just posted his first and second videos from Heroes & Villains FanFest/Walker Stalker San Jose 2018.

    16. Re:Huh? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Originally he wasn't famous though. I assume he become famous for people enjoying watching he play games and possibly for thinking he was cute.

      I don't see how it matter why you are famous though. He definitely is famous.

    17. Re:Huh? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Physical strength, dexterity beyond thumb-twitch skill. Balance, the ability to work in team strategy with other players on a real physical field.

      Real world stuff you probably wouldn't understand.

  10. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  11. Useful idiot gets 15 minutes of fame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and possible legal charges and jail time for unauthorized access to thousands of networks. #MAGA

  12. Re:who do you think is the master of this race? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mod +1 Awesome bot-pasta

  13. But it was hacks! Hacked! Hackers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or really, msmash being stupid again.

  14. And who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm just not part of the demographic that cares about this and glad of it.

  15. Funniest part about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is the print hack inspired news articles which have been read by millions.

    Nice going, journos!

  16. T-series by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    No one knows or cares who/what "T-series" is. Stop posting this crap.

    1. Re:T-series by PPH · · Score: 1

      Come on now Felix. Be a good sport.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  17. Mystified by Tau+Neutrino · · Score: 1

    How is the number of subscribers one has on YouTube even a thing that people care about? Isn't there something even slightly more important they could be pursuing?

    I'm baffled.

    --
    Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
    1. Re:Mystified by Powercntrl · · Score: 1

      How is the number of subscribers one has on YouTube even a thing that people care about?

      Everything that's popular/trending on YouTube is utter tripe. The only things worth watching on there are from the handful of content creators who don't give a shit about regularly spewing out clickbait garbage just to keep their rankings up.

      --

      ---
      DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    2. Re:Mystified by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      How is the number of subscribers one has on YouTube even a thing that people care about? Isn't there something even slightly more important they could be pursuing?

      Easy, more subscribers, more money. PewDiePie, former #1 on YouTube probably easily pulled in a few hundred thousand every month in YouTube money.

      If you've got a silver play button (100K subs) you generally can pull in a couple grand a month, not quite enough to live on, so you either have to supplement with a regular job or a Patreon account.

  18. How is Twitter relevant to this story? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's like saying 'an email user...'

    1. Re:How is Twitter relevant to this story? by tepples · · Score: 1

      One major difference is that Twitter can ban a user from its platform, but because email is a protocol as opposed to being a single point of failure, email can't ban a user.

  19. It's about YouTube ad revenue by tepples · · Score: 1

    How is the number of subscribers one has on YouTube even a thing that people care about?

    You need at least a minimum number of subscribers to be eligible to put ads on your videos. The more subscribers, in theory, the more ad revenue you can earn.

  20. Get what they deserve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they subscribe they get what they deserve.

  21. Been there, done that by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some years ago I quietly programmed one of our office printers to display INSERT COIN when it was idle. This confused one of our summer students, but they all tended to be easily confused. It also caused some consternation when my former boss noticed and asked our sysadmin for an explanation.

    ...laura

  22. can PewDiePie handle prison / jail or will buy his by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    can PewDiePie handle prison / jail or will buy his way out? or the very least fight fight extradition??
    https://mic.com/articles/10913...

  23. F'ck that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about instead I go to your YouTube channel and say "FUCK YOU" [THUMBS DOWN]

  24. Re:can PewDiePie handle prison / jail or will buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since PedDiePie weren't involved in this and it only was the actions of a crazy fan I would guess that he will be just fine.

  25. Oh DEAR GAWD by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 1

    I... can’t... CARE!!!
    (Walks away whistling tunelessly, giving less than 10 raised to the negative 99th power fucks.)

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
  26. Pewds is still No. 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "[...] T-Series has caught up andsurpassed PewDiePie" is factually incorrect. Pewdiepie currently has about 300 000 more subscribers. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Afni3S-ok

  27. Re:Does that include 3D printers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Getting desperate for creimer's attention now that he has consistently posted videos on YouTube for a year? Sad. Fucking sad.

  28. Re:Does that include 3D printers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to Socialbalde, creimer has 99 videos and 23,471 views. That's 237 views per video. A bit more than "two views per video". Of course, some videos will have way more views and others will have way less views. The only video that has two views came out today.

  29. What's a PewDiePie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And what's a Twitter? And why should I start caring?