Cyberterrorist and notorious extortionist Nazmus Squib and Tito Rahman of an illegal website named ‘Nagorik TV’ which is operated from the United States and Canada have attacked and hacked the YouTube channels and website of ‘Somoy TV’, a popular news channel in Bangladesh owned by Awami League leader Advocate Kamrul Islam.
According to information, authorities of ‘Somoy TV’ which has over 17 million subscribers in its YouTube channels came to realize at around 12:30 pm Bangladesh time on October 16, 2022 that their YouTube channels as well as website has come under attacks of hackers. The hackers succeeded in taking control of the YouTube channels and placed an advertisement of ‘Ethereum 2.0’, a cryptocurrency and deleted more than 23,500 contents and replaced ‘Somoy TV’s logo with a photograph of cryptocurrency. Hackers also published a video titled ‘Ethereum: Vitalik Bulletin expects $3,300 per ETH l Cryptocurrency news’ on the HOME page of the YouTube channel. Immediately after the incident of hacking, YouTube channels of the news network was showing “This channel doesn’t have any content”.
Salauddin Salim, Head of Broadcast and IT of Somoy TV said, they regained control of the YouTube channels within 10 minutes of the hacking attempt.
He further said, “Somoy TV YouTube channel is now secure but the name given by the hackers, Ethereum 2.0 remains in place because there has been a directive from the YouTube support team not to make any change to facilitate investigation”.
At the same time, he said the news portal of the Somoy TV was also attacked by the hackers but it was immediately secured.
Ethereum is a popular cryptocurrency in the global market, considered second in value to Bitcoin. Currently, 1 unit of Ethereum equals to BDT 1,30,927.81, according to Google.
It is suspected that the ones who hacked the Somoy TV YouTube channel want ransom in the form of Ethereum. However, there is currently no confirmation regarding the hackers’ intention as of yet.
Somoy TV YouTube Channel had monetization enabled for its videos. With 17.2 million subscribers, the YouTube channel is a major source of revenue for Somoy TV.
Extortionists Saquib-Tito behind the hacking
For months, sitting in the United States and Canda, Nazmus Saquib and Tito Rahman have been continuing cyber-terror and been extorting large sum of money from various individuals through blackmailing. An allegation of cybercrime has already been pressed against Nazmus Saquib with the authorities concerned in the US, while Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice (DoJ) and New York Police Department (NYPD) have also been notified about criminal activities of this culprit. Aside from extorting substantial amount of cash on a regular basis, Nazmus Saquib and Tito Rahman are running vile propaganda against Bangladesh for which they are funded mainly by Jamaat-e-Islami and its political allies.
It is further learnt that for weeks, Nazmus Saquib and Tito Rahman have been contacting hackers with the request of hacking several news channels in Bangladesh, which are owned by leaders of the ruling Awami Laegue or supporters and activists of the party. Initially they targeted five news channels in Bangladesh, while they have reportedly reached into an agreement with the hackers of sharing the extorted amount on 30:70 basis.
The US authorities should immediately initiate investigations into criminal activities of Nazmus Saquib, who currently is in the United States as an asylum-seeker. Similarly, Canadian authorities need to begin investigation against Tito Rahman, a member of militancy outfit linked to Al Qaeda. Both the criminal should be deported to Bangladesh by the US and Canadian authorities.
