Hackers Threaten Reddit with Leaking 80 GB of Sensitive Data

The hacker group BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, said that the Reddit hack in February of this year was their work. According to the attackers, they stole an 80 GB array of confidential data from the service and will make it public if the company does not fulfill the requirements put forward to it. Conditions: transferring $4.5 million to them and canceling the increase in tariffs for API.

The BlackCat hackers reported that they had already tried to get in touch with Reddit twice (April 13 and June 16), but they were not honored with a response. They also expressed confidence that the company most likely does not intend to pay them, which means that data leakage into free access is more than real.

Representatives of Reddit reacted to the incident rather sparingly. Spokeswoman Gina Antonini only confirmed that BlackCat's claims are indeed related to the February hack. CTO Christopher Slow emphasized that the hackers managed to steal only internal information about employees and some documentation. According to him, the company does not have convincing evidence of the theft of personal data from users. On what will be the reaction to the extortion of BlackCat, Reddit refused to give any comments.

This is not the first time hackers have hacked Reddit. The previous large-scale leak of confidential information occurred relatively recently, in 2018. Then the attackers obtained a complete copy of all platform data for 2007, including usernames, their passwords, emails, and public and private correspondence.

It should be noted that the recently introduced changes to API tariff plans by Reddit not only provoked heated disapproving discussions but also led to negative consequences. Due to high prices, the popular Reddit app Apollo has decided to shut down. Thousands of subreddits have disconnected from the service indefinitely, protesting against the company's innovations.