A ransomware group known as BlackCat has claimed responsibility for the phishing attack on Reddit’s systems that occurred earlier this year. In a recent post shared by researcher Dominic Alvieri, BlackCat stated that it had successfully stolen 80GB of data from Reddit during the February attack. The group has now demanded a payment of $4.5 million in exchange for the stolen data. Additionally, BlackCat insists that Reddit revert its planned API pricing changes, which had caused significant user and moderator protests in recent weeks.
Read: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Predictably prestigious
During the time of the hack, Reddit had acknowledged that hackers had executed a sophisticated and highly-targeted phishing attack, allowing them to access internal documents and data, including contact information of employees and advertisers. However, Reddit had clarified that user data which was not already public had not been compromised.
When approached for comment on the recent ransom demands, Reddit declined to provide an official statement. However, Bleeping Computer has reported that the hack claimed by BlackCat is indeed the same incident disclosed by Reddit in February.
BlackCat’s demand regarding the API pricing changes comes amidst a contentious dispute between Reddit leadership and its highly engaged user base. Reddit’s announcement of its intention to charge developers of third-party apps, potentially amounting to millions of dollars annually, led to several top subreddits temporarily going offline as a form of protest, restricting new posts and public access. In an interview with The Verge, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman expressed that the platform was never originally designed to support third-party apps, and the proposed changes would not be retracted.
This is not the first time Reddit has fallen victim to a security breach. In 2018, the platform experienced an attack in which a hacker gained access to user data, including email addresses, old usernames, and passwords.
The situation remains ongoing, with Reddit and law enforcement agencies likely working together to investigate the ransomware attack and determine an appropriate response.
It is important to highlight that although BlackCat is a ransomware group, they did not employ encryption techniques to lock devices in this particular attack.
Furthermore, the same hacking group is suspected to be responsible for a similar cyberattack on Western Digital in March 2023, resulting in a widespread disruption of the company’s My Cloud cloud service.
Initially, the threat actors behind the Western Digital attack did not disclose their identity. However, screenshots of the pilfered data were later leaked on the ALPHV data leak website, accompanied by taunting messages directed at the company, underscoring their successful breach.
In May, Western Digital took the necessary steps to notify customers of the data breach, alerting those who had made purchases through their online store that their personal information had been compromised during the attack.
