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For hours it seemed as if DAZN’s Instagram account had been hacked. But it was just a staged advertising event.
Update from August 15, 5:05 p.m.: The nightmare is over – and DAZN itself is actually behind the alleged hacker attack. The streaming service staged the cyberattack to advertise the upcoming football season, as it revealed at the request of IPPEN.MEDIA announced.
The Swiss national player Breel Embolo turned out to be the “hacker”. The campaign was launched by the broadcaster “to draw attention to the start of Serie A and Ligue 1, which begin this weekend and can only be seen in Switzerland on DAZN,” according to the provider.
Hacker attack on DAZN? Strange posts on Instagram
First report from August 15: Munich – Anyone who visited the German Instagram page of the streaming provider DAZN on Thursday was amazed. Instead of football videos, there was only a message: “You have been hacked!”
According to his own statements, the “intruder” gained access to the account, which has over half a million followers, by guessing the password. “How easy do you want to make it? Password Dazn2024!” writes the alleged hacker, who was apparently able to do whatever he wanted without being distracted.
Hacker attack on DAZN? Intruder can apparently do whatever he wants
First, he asked his followers for suggestions for the profile picture, then he posted a photo of the actor Alvaro Morte, the lead actor in the Spanish TV series “House of Money”. Later, he also tried to change the name of the account – but in vain. He also placed the Swiss flag everywhere and claimed to be Swiss himself. “Best wishes from Switzerland”.
It is also theoretically possible that this is a kind of advertising campaign to increase awareness of an announcement. Some fans also suspect this. Competitor Sky made fun of the incident with a comment: “Just for the record: it wasn’t us.” Transfermarkt.de advised people to change their password as quickly as possible. Many sports fans found it entertaining.
Fans laugh at alleged DAZN glitch and demand price reduction
The most common request to the hacker: “Please change the prices immediately.” In recent years, DAZN has attracted attention through massive price increases, against which there is now a class action lawsuit. In spring 2024, the streaming service also engaged in a public dispute with the DFL over the awarding of TV rights.
DAZN was not immediately available for comment. A few days ago, US presidential candidate Donald Trump and his team were also victims of a hacker attack. The former president blamed Iran. (epp)
