YouTube Ghost Network: The phantom network that infected millions of users

YouTube Ghost Network: The phantom network that infected millions of users

YouTube Ghost Network: The phantom network that infected millions of users

Redazione RHC:26 October 2025 16:25

Google specialists removed over 3,000 videos from YouTube that spread hidden information disguised as hacked software and video game cheats. Check Point researchers dubbed this campaign ” YouTube Ghost Network” and reported that it had been active since 2021, with a sharp increase in 2025, when the number of malicious videos tripled.

According to researchers, the perpetrators of these attacks hijacked legitimate YouTube accounts and, using their identities, posted tutorials promising free pirated versions of Photoshop and FL Studio, as well as cheats and hacks for Roblox. Instead of the promised software, victims received the Rhadamanthys and Lumma infostealers, which stole credentials and crypto wallets.

YouTube’s phantom network consisted of thousands of fake and compromised accounts working together. Some accounts posted videos with malicious links, others manipulated likes and comments to create the illusion of activity, and still others shared links to these videos via YouTube’s “Community” feature.

“This campaign exploited trust signals (views, likes, comments) to make malicious content appear safe,” Check Point researchers explain. “What appeared to be a helpful tutorial turned out to be a carefully crafted cyber trap.”

Users who fell for the scammers’ trap were asked to disable their antivirus software and download an archive from Dropbox, Google Drive, or MediaFire. Instead of the expected software, the archive contained malware that, once launched, stole the victim’s data and transmitted it to the hackers’ servers.

Researchers report that a hacked channel with 129,000 subscribers posted a video promoting a hacked version of Adobe Photoshop, garnering nearly 300,000 views and over 1,000 likes . Another channel targeted cryptocurrency users, redirecting them to phishing pages on Google Sites.

The most popular YouTube Ghost Network lure was Roblox cheats, but videos featuring hacked versions of Microsoft Office, Lightroom, and Adobe tools were also popular. It’s worth noting that the campaign’s operators regularly modified payloads and updated links, anticipating the deletion of videos and accounts and creating a resilient ecosystem capable of quickly recovering from account bans.

The network’s modular structure, with uploaders, commenters, and link distributors, has allowed the YouTube Ghost Network to survive for years. Check Point notes similarities between this campaign and the Stargazers Ghost Network , discovered on GitHub last year. This service uses thousands of fake developer accounts to host malicious repositories.

“In today’s threat landscape, a popular video can be as dangerous as a phishing email,” experts say. “This highlights that even trusted platforms are not immune to abuse.”

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