Reddit hackers demand $4.5 million ransom and change API pricing

A ransomware group is claiming responsibility for a hack on Reddit’s systems earlier this year — and is demanding not only money but a change in policy.

Ransomware group Blackcat says it was behind the February phishing attack on Reddit, as previously reported bleeping computer, in a post Shared by researcher Dominic Alvieri, Blackcat claims to have stolen 80GB of data from Reddit and threatened to release it publicly if the demand is not met. Group Wants Reddit is demanding a $4.5 million payment in exchange for the data and rolls back its planned API pricing changes that sparked user and moderator protests last week.

at the time of the hack, reddit said The hackers used a “sophisticated and highly targeted” phishing attack to gain access to internal documents and data, including contact information for employees and advertisers. The company says that the hackers did not access user data that was not public.

Reddit declined to comment on the record of the hack. bleeping computer The report states that the Blackcat hack and the incident reported by Reddit in February are the same.

Blackcat’s new demands follow a contentious back-and-forth between Reddit leadership and some of its most engaged users around API pricing changes. After Reddit announced it would start charging developers of third-party apps — potentially millions of dollars a year — several top subreddits went dark in response, limiting new posts and shutting off public access. in an interview with ledge, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the platform was “never designed” to support third-party apps and that the company would not back down from its proposed changes.