In its digital edition, the Uruguayan outlet pointed out that the cyber-attack, as happened with Prensa Latina, generated the loss of contents in its YouTube account, affecting freedom of expression.
Previously, the accounts of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina had been hacked, as denounced by the human rights activists, according to Caras y Caretas.
Regarding January’s cyber-attack, the Uruguayan outlet said that it began with an irregular access to YouTube’s Gmail account.
“The cybercriminals once they got in, changed passwords and phone numbers for authentication. In that way, they prevented account holders and their legitimate administrators from being able to access their account,” Cara y Caretas News Agency detailed.
From that moment on, the cyber-attackers commenced to disseminate content not authorized by YouTube, in order to get the accounts censored and closed, it added.
The press release points out that the company that appeared supplanting the Uruguayan left-wing publication was MicroStrategy, headquartered in Virginia, a southeastern US state, and which is dedicated to the development of corporate software.
“Surprisingly, Prensa Latina denounced that the same firm is the one that appears as the supplanter on YouTube of the Havana news agency,” the source underscored.
The news media, headquartered in Havana, remarked that the hacking implied a loss of 64,500 subscribers accumulated until then, Caras y Caretas referred, which is issued in Montevideo.
In addition to the fact that MicroStrategy coincided in the hacks, it can be seen that similar mechanisms had been used, practically the same to affect the media, it argued.
The Uruguayan outlet stated that two alternative media had been attacked, characterized by their own information agenda and not limited to the large hegemonic chains.
In that regard, it noted that the damage had been done to the YouTube channels of Caras y Caretas and Prensa Latina, and a similar infiltration technique had been harnessed.
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