About
Towel is the pseudonym used by an anonymous hacker who gained minor notoriety for hacking and vandalizing the YouTube and Twitter accounts of several notable video bloggers in late October 2015.
History
Little biographical information is available about the anonymous hacker. The name “Towel” remained rather obscure until early November 2015, when several YouTube channels and Twitter accounts of popular video bloggers, including YourMovieSucks, Exinthevatican (Joel Johansson of Vinesauce) and Lyle McDouchebag, as well as the Tumblr account of Markiplier, were breached and vandalized with the pseudonymous signature.
Exinthevatican Channel Hijack
On November 4th, the hacker claimed responsibility for breaching and hijacking the YouTube and Twitch channels of Joel Johansson, a well-known member of the popular video game streaming channel Vinesauce, replacing his YouTube avatar and channel name with images bearing the signature “Towel.” In addition to vandalizing Johansson’s social media channels, Towel also uploaded three videos in which he taunts the subscribers by stating that he now owns the channel, while banning nearly everyone who commented on the Vinesauce streamer’s Twitch channel.
Shortly after the hack, Johansson’s subscribers began discussing the events on Vinesauce’s official forum, the /r/vinesauce subreddit and 4chan’s /v/ board, with some reportedly attempting to identify and mobilize a raid against the hacker. On the following day, a brief article about the anonymous hacker “Towel” was created on Vinesauce’s Wikia site. On November 8th, Towel uploaded a video titled “Goodbye” to Johansson’s YouTube channel, seemingly suggesting that he would release his control over the channel. However, by the next day, all of Johansson’s videos had been deleted from the channel. As of November 10th, all of the videos that had been removed were restored and a short video of Johansson announcing the recovery of his channel was uploaded.
Lyle McDouchebag’s Twitter Account
On November 7th, Towel claimed responsibility for taking control of popular Machinima filmmaker Lyle McDouchebag’s Twitter account and renaming it to “Towel McDouchebag.” By November 10th, Lyle McDouchebag’s Twitter feed had been restored.
YourMovieSucks’ Twitter Account
On November 7th, Towel took control of YouTube film critic YourMovieSucks’ Twitter account. As of November 10th, the account appears to be restored.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Reddit – The VineSauce YouTube account was hacked
[2]FunnyJunk – New Hacker: Towel
[3]Tumblr – So let me get this straight
[4]Reddit – Who is “Towel” and why is he in charge of the Vinesauce YouTube channel, YMS Twitter and Markiplier Tumblr?
[5]Reddit – Who is Towel?!?!
[6]NeoGAF Forums – Joel from Vinesauce got hacked
[7]Miiverse Wikia – So um someone posted some of Towel (the hacker one)’s personal info