A ransomware group is claiming accountability for a hack on Reddit’s techniques earlier this yr — and demanding not simply cash however coverage modifications.
BlackCat, a ransomware group, says it was behind the February phishing assault on Reddit, as beforehand reported by Bleeping Computer. In a post shared by researcher Dominic Alvieri, BlackCat claims to have stolen 80GB of information from Reddit and threatens to launch it publicly if calls for aren’t met. The group wants a $4.5 million payout in change for the info and in addition calls for Reddit roll again its deliberate API pricing modifications that spurred user and moderator protests final week.
On the time of the hack, Reddit said hackers had used a “subtle and highly-targeted” phishing assault to get entry to inner paperwork and knowledge, together with contact data for workers and advertisers. The corporate maintained that the hackers hadn’t accessed person knowledge that wasn’t public.
Reddit declined to touch upon the document concerning the hack. Bleeping Laptop experiences that the BlackCat hack and the incident disclosed by Reddit in February are the identical.
BlackCat’s new calls for round API pricing modifications observe a contentious back-and-forth between Reddit management and a few of its most engaged customers. After Reddit introduced it will start charging builders of third-party apps — probably to the tune of millions of dollars a year — many prime subreddits went darkish in response, limiting new posts and shutting public entry. In an interview with The Verge, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the platform was “by no means designed” to assist third-party apps and that the corporate wouldn’t pull back from its proposed modifications.