Justin Bieber YouTube videos hacked

Justin Bieber fans were redirected to a number of adult videos and websites at the weekend after hackers exploited a security vulnerability on YouTube.

Hackers initally found a vulnerability that meant malicious code could be posted in the Comments field under the videos.

This vulnerability was then used to insert error messages onto the site, as well as messages telling viewers that teenage Canadian pop star Justin Bieber had died in a car accident.

These error messages told surfers to click to either get more information or get rid of the malware. But clicking the OK button redirected surfers to porn and adult videos or sites.

A Google spokesman told Web User: "We took swift action to fix a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on youtube.com that was discovered.

"Comments were temporarily hidden by default within an hour, and we released a complete fix for the issue in about two hours. We're continuing to study the vulnerability to help prevent similar issues in the future," he continued.

Google did stress that no-one's personal accounts could have been hacked because of this vulnerability.

The security breach is being monitored and according to security expert Christopher Boyd of Sunbelt Software, it could have been a lot worse.

"If this exploit had been discovered by a professional money-making outfit, there could have been all sorts of subtle attacks taking place for a long time - not good, given the apparent simplicity of the attack," Boyd said.

Apple's iTunes was also a victim of hackers over the weekend. Cybercriminals managed to access customer accounts and use their card details to buy apps from the app store.

Security blogger Alex Brie pointed to fact that a number of Vietnamese book apps had suddenly started performing really well and the top 40 iPhone apps in the Books category were created by Vietnamese developer Thuat Nguyen.

Apple has said that these specific apps have since been removed and it is looking into the problem.