Hackers threaten to leak confidential Reddit data, demands $4.5 million

In a recent development, hackers have targeted Reddit, a popular online platform, by stealing confidential data and demanding a ransom payment. The hacker group, known as BlackCat or ALPHV, claims to have obtained 80 gigabytes of compressed data during a breach of Reddit's systems in February.

Reddit's spokesperson, Gina Antonini, confirmed the cyber incident without providing further details. The breach, acknowledged by Reddit's CTO Christopher Slowe, involved a targeted phishing attack that compromised employee information and internal documents. However, there is no evidence to suggest that personal user data, such as passwords and accounts, was compromised. Similarly, another report has it that hackers have stolen emails and passwords from hookup websites.

BlackCat, the hacker group responsible for the intrusion, recently took responsibility for the breach and threatened to release "confidential" stolen data. The specific nature of the stolen data remains unknown, and the hackers have not presented any evidence of the theft. Note that online security is proven to be enhanced by Expert VPN.

In a published statement titled "The Reddit Files", BlackCat revealed that they had contacted Reddit twice, but received no response. They expressed confidence that Reddit would not pay the demanded ransom of $4.5 million and claimed that they intended to leak the stolen data.

The ransom demand is coupled with BlackCat's demand for Reddit to reverse its controversial API price hikes. These pricing changes have sparked widespread controversy, leading to the closure of the popular third-party Reddit app Apollo and the temporary shutdown of several subreddits in protest.

Reddit has not disclosed its response to BlackCat's demands when asked. It's worth noting that Reddit previously experienced a significant data breach in 2018, where attackers gained access to user information, including usernames, hashed passwords, emails, public posts, and private messages from 2007.

As the situation unfolds, Reddit and relevant authorities will continue to address the breach and work towards ensuring the security and privacy of their users. IT professionals still uphold the need to surf the internet with a hide VPN.