Reddit, the popular social news aggregation and discussion website, suffered a hack in February this year. The company stated that hackers used a sophisticated and highly-targeted phishing attack to gain access to internal documents and data, including contact information for employees and advertisers. However, Reddit also maintained that the hackers hadn’t accessed user data that wasn’t public. BlackCat, a ransomware group, has now claimed responsibility for the hack and has demanded not only money but also policy changes from Reddit.
The Demands
BlackCat is demanding a payout of $4.5 million in exchange for the 80GB of data stolen from Reddit. Furthermore, the group is insisting that Reddit rolls back its planned changes to its API pricing. Last week, the platform announced that it would begin charging developers of third-party apps, and this prompted user and moderator protests. In response to the protests, many top subreddits went dark, limiting new posts and closing public access. The proposed changes could have potentially cost developers millions of dollars a year. However, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman was quick to defend the company’s stance, stating that the platform was never designed to support third-party apps, and that the company would not pull back from its proposed changes.
Reddit has declined to comment on the record about the hack. However, Bleeping Computer reports that the BlackCat hack and the incident disclosed by Reddit in February are the same. This suggests that the group did indeed carry out the hack and has access to the stolen data. BlackCat is now threatening to release the data publicly if their demands are not met.
This is not the first time that Reddit has fallen victim to an attack. In 2018, a hacker gained access to user data, including email addresses and old usernames and passwords. The company has since implemented various security measures to prevent further breaches. However, this recent incident highlights the ongoing threat of cyberattacks and the importance of companies maintaining robust security protocols.
In summary, BlackCat, a ransomware group, has claimed responsibility for the hack on Reddit’s systems earlier this year. The group is demanding a $4.5 million payout in exchange for the 80GB of stolen data and is also insisting that Reddit rolls back its planned changes to its API pricing. The proposed changes have caused protests among users and moderators, with many top subreddits going dark in response. The incident highlights the ongoing threat of cyberattacks and the importance of companies maintaining robust security protocols to protect themselves and their users.
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