A number of major music videos were the victims of a security breach online this week when they - including Luis Fonsi's record-breaking 'Despacito' feauting Daddy Yankee - were temporarily deleted by hackers. The videos are back online, however, and someone claiming to be the hacker released a comment.

Luis Fonsi at the pre-grammy galaLuis Fonsi at the pre-grammy gala

The video, which had just broken YouTube records by being the first to reach 5 billion, disappeared from the video streaming site entirely to be replaced by a picture of masked men with guns and the legend 'Free Palestine'. The video is back up and running again with the views back at the original mark before it was removed.

A number of other Vevo videos were also hit by the hackers - who are apparently calling themselves Prosox and Kuroi'sh according to reports - including those by artists Shakira, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Chris Brown, DJ Snake, Katy Perry and Drake.

A Twitter account claiming to be that of this so-called Prosox reportedly defended his/her actions in a since deleted post. 'It's just for fun. I just use [the script] 'youtube-change-title-video' and I write 'hacked'. Don't judge me, I love YouTube.'

According to a cyber-security expert that the BBC spoke with, it's unlikely that the breach was so simple. The hackers would need an 'authorisation token' so they must have bypassed this major blockade and got permissions 'in some other way'. Either way, it sounded to him like they were being 'economical with the facts'.

'Vevo can confirm that a number of videos in its catalogue were subject to a security breach today, which has now been contained', a spokesperson for Vevo told The Independent. 'We are working to reinstate all videos affected and our catalogue to be restored to full working order. We are continuing to investigate the source of the breach.'

More: 'Despacito' becomes most streamed song of all time

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for YouTube said: 'After seeing unusual upload activity on a handful of Vevo channels, we worked quickly with our partner to disable access while they investigate the issue.'