The train wreck next to a dumpster fire that is Reddit may become much worse shortly. I say that because a story has now surfaced that goes something like this:
Hackers are threatening to release confidential data stolen from Reddit unless the company pays a ransom demand – and reverses its controversial API price hikes.
In a post on its dark web leak site, the BlackCat ransomware gang, also known as ALPHV, claims to have stolen 80 gigabytes of compressed data from Reddit during a February breach of the company’s systems.
Reddit spokesperson Gina Antonini declined to answer TechCrunch’s questions but confirmed that BlackCat’s claims relate to a cyber incident confirmed by Reddit on February 9. At the time, Reddit CTO Christopher Slowe, or KeyserSosa, said that hackers had accessed employee information and internal documents during a “highly-targeted” phishing attack. Slowe added that the company had “no evidence” that personal user data, such as passwords and accounts, had been stolen.
Reddit didn’t share any further details about the attack or who was behind it. However, BlackCat over the weekend claimed responsibility for the February intrusion and threatened to leak “confidential” data stolen during the breach. It’s unclear exactly what types of data the hackers have stolen, and BlackCat hasn’t shared any evidence of data theft.
If this is true, then Reddit really has a huge problem on its hands. Unlike their attempts to bully their user base, Reddit would have little to no leverage against these threat actors. So you have to wonder what Reddit CEO Steve Huffman would do. Would he cave and pay up as well as walk back the API changes? Or would he stand firm? That of course assumes that this claim by Black Cat is true.
I guess we’re about to find out.
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This entry was posted on June 19, 2023 at 9:36 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Reddit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Hackers Claim To Have Pwned Reddit And Threaten To Release Gigs Of Confidential Data If Reddit Doesn’t Reverse API Changes And Pay Them
The train wreck next to a dumpster fire that is Reddit may become much worse shortly. I say that because a story has now surfaced that goes something like this:
Hackers are threatening to release confidential data stolen from Reddit unless the company pays a ransom demand – and reverses its controversial API price hikes.
In a post on its dark web leak site, the BlackCat ransomware gang, also known as ALPHV, claims to have stolen 80 gigabytes of compressed data from Reddit during a February breach of the company’s systems.
Reddit spokesperson Gina Antonini declined to answer TechCrunch’s questions but confirmed that BlackCat’s claims relate to a cyber incident confirmed by Reddit on February 9. At the time, Reddit CTO Christopher Slowe, or KeyserSosa, said that hackers had accessed employee information and internal documents during a “highly-targeted” phishing attack. Slowe added that the company had “no evidence” that personal user data, such as passwords and accounts, had been stolen.
Reddit didn’t share any further details about the attack or who was behind it. However, BlackCat over the weekend claimed responsibility for the February intrusion and threatened to leak “confidential” data stolen during the breach. It’s unclear exactly what types of data the hackers have stolen, and BlackCat hasn’t shared any evidence of data theft.
If this is true, then Reddit really has a huge problem on its hands. Unlike their attempts to bully their user base, Reddit would have little to no leverage against these threat actors. So you have to wonder what Reddit CEO Steve Huffman would do. Would he cave and pay up as well as walk back the API changes? Or would he stand firm? That of course assumes that this claim by Black Cat is true.
I guess we’re about to find out.
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This entry was posted on June 19, 2023 at 9:36 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Reddit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.